Collection of Noblesse AUs
by Dark Ice Dragon
Summary: Collection of Noblesse AUs.
1. Chapter 1

So. Yeah. New collections post because I thought my other one was starting to get a little unwieldy. So any more AU fics I write will go here. Not sure how many that will be, but yeah. XD;

 **Summary** : Myung-Dae ran through the dark forest, his breath trapped in his throat. The forest that Myung-Dae had _always_ been warned to never step into, because mortals weren't welcome.

Mountain-god!AU. Brainstormed with Kai and Key.

Myung-Dae's (M-21's) like. I dunno, 8 here or something.

* * *

 **The Forest  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

Myung-Dae ran through the dark forest, his breath trapped in his throat. He couldn't breathe, but he couldn't _stop_ either, not when the flames had been at his back, not when his mother had screamed at him to _run_. Into the forest. The forest that Myung-Dae had _always_ been warned to never step into, because mortals weren't welcome. The guardian was said to change any mortals who stepped within the boundaries, and then they were trapped there, tied to the forest.

And that forest was now his protection from the bandits that had attacked his village.

Myung-Dae tripped over something, his knees and palms slamming over rocks and roots. He hadn't heard anyone following him - the sounds of fighting had died behind him a while ago until all he hear was the blood rushing in his ears and his short breaths.

He couldn't stop. Couldn't stop. He had to keep going. Myung-Dae lurched to his feet, and his legs were burning, threatening to drop him right there, but he forced his legs to move.

He froze at a rustle to his right, and he tried to stare into the shadows to see what was there. It all looked the same, all the shapes bleeding into each other.

He turned and fled, hearing something crashing behind him. Every time it landed, Myung-Dae felt the impact travelling up his feet. It had to be huge!

It was getting closer with each bound and Myung-Dae could imagine the sharp teeth snapping at where he'd just been, tasting the meal it would soon have.

He wasn't going to - he was going to - A light!

Something was glowing in front of him through the trees. People!

It had to be somewhere safe and Myung-Dae stumbled towards it.

Something crashed into his back, sending him sprawling. Before he could try to push himself up, a heavy weight pinned him down, slamming what little air he had left in his body whooshing out again.

He screamed as pain seared through his shoulder and he could feel blood spurting out of the wound.

And then the weight was gone, white brightening at the edges of his vision.

He was dying. That was it. He had to be dying, because the pain was fading.

Myung-Dae struggled as much as he could when he was picked up. The monster must be carrying him somewhere to eat.

But…he was tired. He had no more strength in his body and Myung-Dae closed his eyes, letting himself be carried away. 

xOx

Raizel brushed the hair away from the child's face, burning the last of Frankenstein's aura from what had attacked the child. When it was free of the taint, a wolf stood in its place – it shook itself and then bounded further into the forest.

"My Lord? Did y – what's that, my Lord?"

Raizel turned, showing Frankenstein the child in his arms. Frankenstein's eyes widened at the sight, his rounded ears flatting.

"He is mortal, my Lord," Frankenstein said, lifting his ears again. "A human child. You…don't know how to look after those."

"He needed my help." The child's wounds were almost gone, and Raizel continued to heal him. "Do you?"

"…Yes, my Lord," Frankenstein said after a pause, stepping closer and peering at the child. "But it has been a long time. And-" Frankenstein's gaze dropped. "-I may change him as well."

"He is strong," Raizel said. "Most mortals would have been affected by now."

"I doubt he's been here long enough."

Raizel looked at him, sending amusement through the connection they shared. "There are few mortals who would be able to reach this deep into the forest untouched."

"I wouldn't call that wholly 'untouched'," Frankenstein muttered under his breath, eyeing the bloodstains on the child's clothes.

Raizel looked in the direction that the child had come from. "Humans know to not enter here." There was a shiver down their connection, and Raizel sent _reassurance_ until Frankenstein settled again. "There must be a reason why he thought it was better to come this way."

"Perhaps."

"Then I will stay awake, for now," Raizel said, adjusting how he held the child. Frankenstein had been asking him for decades to rest so that he could recover his strength, but he did not want to stop walking through his forest. Nor did he want to leave Frankenstein alone. "Until we can return him to his family."

"…Yes, My lord." 

* * *

I'd planned that Myung-Dae would see Rai just before losing consciousness but that didn't happen.

Sort of used a sanshin as a reference, and they're always depicted with a tiger, so. Yeah. Tiger!Frankenstein. :D As for Rai - stag antlers and large, white dripping wings. Because this is me we're talking about. XD;

I didn't have an end planned for this, so this is way less likely to get a longer version done.


	2. Awakening the Guardian

**Summary** : There was someone in Frankenstein's forest. Not only was there someone trespassing inside a dragon's territory, they were also _casting magic_. He wouldn't let someone get away with such a challenge.

Dragon!Frankenstein.

* * *

 **Awakening the Guardian  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

There was someone in Frankenstein's forest. Not only was there someone trespassing inside a dragon's territory, they were also _casting magic_.

Frankenstein curled his lips, baring his fangs as he dug his claws into the ground before launching himself into the sky with a powerful beat of his wings.

He wouldn't let someone get away with such a challenge.

xOx

Tao panted, helping to support Takeo as much as he could, the sounds of angry soldiers crashing around the burning forest foliage behind them.

"Told ya I didn't need that protective armour," Tao said, adjusting his grip on Takeo's torso. "We wouldn't be moving as fast if we'd gotten it."

"And if you'd gotten it I wouldn't have been so worried for your _life_ when you snuck into their camp." Takeo grunted and Tao winced, the broken arrow shaft in Takeo's stomach drawing his attention every time he checked on him.

"Well now we can share the worry of both our lives together. How about that?"

Takeo huffed, but didn't say anything, tugging Tao to the right.

Tao followed his advice; it wasn't an ability like Tao's magic, but Takeo just seemed to _know_ where to go sometimes, like he saw everything he looked at, or could see everything around him. And being an archer, an ability like that was _very_ useful.

It didn't seem to work when Tao threw something at his head, which mollified him a little; Tao's powers lay with lightning and Hearing. On quiet days, Tao could hear news of towns the wind carried, and when it was noisy, he could distinguish the exact person in the crowd he wanted to find so long as he had heard them talk before. He couldn't help train Takeo if he _did_ have Sight abilities, that wasn't Tao's speciality.

Their path led them down to a steep riverbank and they skidded down it, Tao using his staff to slow them down so they stopped before they splashed into the water.

"Think we've got the dragon's attention yet?" Tao murmured, staring up at the sky. He couldn't hear roaring or the prickle of magic, but he'd sent enough magic up to grab _anyone's_ attention who was sensitive to it.

 _There_ was the prickle of magic Tao was looking for, but it had come at his back and Tao cried out at the sharp pain that smashed into his back. He crumped, dragging Takeo with him.

"You thought you could get away after sabotaging our anti-dragon weapon?" the captain -the one with the pompous hat that Tao had pegged as so Up To No Good that he'd badgered Takeo to join him to follow him- snarled.

"Weren't expecting to," Tao wheezed. He wanted to struggle to his feet, give the guy one last speech to the face, but his body wasn't responding. Blood was trickling out his body, he knew that much. Too much and too fast.

"Just wanted to stop ya." Because there had been too many rumours of a group of humans who had been killing dragons, taking both their treasures and their magic. A dragon was a dragon, but they only brought trouble down on a person who dared step into their territory - if they were left alone, they kept to themselves.

Humans with power though, and who had been gaining power? They stretched out, grabbing whatever they wanted and no-one had the power to fight back.

The captain's staff tip glowed and Tao braced himself for the final blow. "You think that will slow us for-"

Tao sucked in a breath, the sheer _weight_ of magic pressing down on him, making it harder to breathe. That wasn't human magic, could _never_ be mistaken for human magic, and the captain disappeared in a tower of black flames, the soldiers scrambling back as they screamed.

Gold scales and a long serpentine was the impressions Tao got in the whirl of claws and magic that tore through the other humans.

A roar reverberated through Tao's entire body and all he could do was try to take in one more breath through the haze of pain.

Then it was silent. Tao tried to roll over to see Takeo. It took a few tries, the pain in his back like something was still in there, digging in deeper into his flesh, but when he made it, the dark stain on Takeo's stomach was still growing, getting darker. Takeo was pale too, and from how Takeo's eyes widened at the sight of him, he must have looked the same.

It was getting colder.

"Least...we could do that before we died," Tao wheezed. It couldn't be a complete waste.

Tao was too weak to flinch at a sudden wind, hearing the dragon land. Must be to make sure all the human tresspassers were dead.

' _You did this to help me_.' And now Tao was hearing voices in his head. Talking to spirits in his last moments? That couldn't be right.

Something blocked the sun from Tao and Tao stared up at a blue eye that glittered like alexandrite. The dragon was so huge its head was bigger than Tao was tall. ' _You're hearing the voice of the dragon you helped, humans._ '

Oh. "Hi," Tao croaked out.

' _There is not much time left -as I'm sure you're aware- but I would like to repay you for your deed._ '

That was it. Tao was dead and this was one last dream. Dragons didn't offer boons to _anyone_.

' _That's because there have been few humans who have tried to help us, rather than steal our treasure._ ' The dragon's eyes focused on Takeo. ' _I can give you some of my power; I will bind your souls to mine, and you will live for as long as I do. It means you will leave behind your humanity, and your bodies will be changed, but you will ultimately live._ '

Last minute deals was something demons tended to do to get a person's soul but now Tao could understand why even if the dying person knew it was a trap, they still agreed to it.

Tao wanted to _live_. "Yeah." He wanted to say more, but he could barely say that word, let alone anything with more syllables.

"I agree," Takeo breathed.

A wave of magic flowed over them and Tao was sure there was supposed to be more formalities to when your soul was bound to a magical creature.

It didn't matter. Tao closed his eyes, his entire body tingling.

xOx

He had been able to complete the spell in time and Frankenstein could feel the butterfly light beat of their hearts pulse in his mind.

It would be some time until their bodies would change; it wouldn't happen until their bodies had recovered from the injuries they'd received, but until then, they would rest.

Frankenstein scooped the two humans into his hands and flew back to his home. It had been a long time since he had anyone come to his home, but he had more than enough room for them.

Though he might have to move some of his books first.

* * *

For otpprompt's 'One or both of your OTP is soul bonded to a dragon(s).' I haaaad to, haha.

So, next year's Nano fic? Hahaha.


	3. Meet and Greet

**Summary** : Tao had been around for a long time and he finally meets a human that can see him for what he really is: a sphynx.

Sphynx-Tao!AU. :D

Birthday fic for Key! That they requested last year, haha…

I might just make Chin-Mae my default M-21 civilian name.

* * *

 **Meet and Greet  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

Tao could feel eyes on him. That wasn't something new -a lot of humans stopped what they were doing to pet him- but when he turned to look, a silver-haired human was staring at him. Not in the way where a human was deciding if they should come over and give him attention or not, but it was the wide-eyed look where they couldn't believe what they were seeing.

Tao licked himself and then stretched, unfurling his wings.

The human tracked the movement, his eyes going wider and Tao flicked his tail. Well, well, well, _that_ was interesting. It had been several decades since he'd met a human who could see his wings, and that meant one thing.

He settled his wings back with a shake and loped over. The human stayed where he was, which made Tao like him even more. When Tao reached him and meowed up at him, the human hesitated for a second and then crouched down, hovering his hand just above Tao's wings.

Tao flashed his fangs. "Hello, human."

The human's face blanked as he drew back. "What." And then the human looked around, but no-one else had glanced in their direction. Not that it was that busy around them, the stars glittering above their heads, but still.

"All they hear is me meowing," Tao said, letting the human see more of the others' lack of reaction. "Only those with supernatural abilities can see me for what I am and hear me." He had to be the first supernatural being the human had met if he was reacting like that. Which wasn't surprising; Tao had been seeing less and less supernatural beings as the centuries ticked by, either through losing power through lack of faith, or being actively hunted down. It got safer to hide as best as they could rather than displaying what they were.

The human didn't say anything for a few seconds, his lips pressed together. "So what are you?"

"A sphynx," Tao said, flashing out his wings again because he could and because the human could _see_ them. "Not the bald kind, obviously."

The time the human frowned. "You don't look like one…"

Tao sniffed. "And not all humans look exactly the same either." He just happened to have black fur instead of the golden fur that was associated with mythical sphinxes.

"Hn, fair enough," the human said with a shrug. "So why come to me?"

"Well," Tao said, sitting and wrapping his tail around his paws, "you're the first human I've met in a long time that I've been able to talk with." _Talking_ was something he'd gotten unused to, his voice scratchy.

The human's face cleared. "You're lonely."

Tao nodded. "Yeah," he admitted, sighing. "People act like they know what I'm saying, and sometimes they make good guesses, but that's not the same as actually talking with someone." Having someone properly react to what he said… He'd missed that.

"Hm." The human ran a hand through his hair. "All right, fine." Tao's ears perked up. "But do you have anything…weird I have to worry about you eating?"

He laughed as he stood up and rubbed his forehead on the human's leg. "No. Normally I'm supposed to eat the people who fail my riddles, but I'm not interested in human flesh. And riddles take time to think up." He stretched, flexing his paws. "I prefer knowledge anyway – it lasts longer." He was immortal, so he ate only because humans could make such nice tasting food.

The human glanced away before looking back at him. "I've got a tablet and an internet connection. Can you use that?"

Tao grinned, his tail swishing. He was liking this human more the longer they talked with each other. "I've seen the adverts. It might take time to perfect, but I'll get it.

"Since we'll be housemates," Tao continued, "what's your name? I'm Tao."

"Chin-Mae."

"Chin-Mae," Tao said, trying it out. "Got it!" Then Tao leaped up onto Chin-Mae's shoulders as he stood up.

"…Hey," Chin-Mae said, looking at him.

Tao sat down, curling his tail over Chin-Mae shoulder. "It's a nice view."

Chin-Mae snorted as he started walking down the street. "Don't make a habit of it."

Tao purred instead, giving Chin-Mae's ear a light nip, just enough to feel. Chin-Mae was already his human, he had decided. He was going to enjoy living with him.

* * *

Tao _was_ supposed to give a riddle and M-21 Took A Third Option but I couldn't think of a riddle sooo.


	4. Rumours and Reality

**Summary** : M-21 gets dragged onto a new ship.

Pirate AU.

So brainstorming with Laryna got out of hand. And I'm not doing anything more with this snippet because I have no idea how to write pirates or sea faring plot. :P

Inspired by the otpprompt, 'Imagine your OTP as pirates and they are terrified of their wacky captain.'

* * *

 **Rumours and Reality  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

M-21 is coughing and spluttering, salt water still trying to drown him as he's dragged aboard a ship. _The_ ship it has to be, the one that appeared out of the evening fog like a fucking ghost and rammed right into the Union ship, _Fifth Hell_. That's the name the slaves gave her, and she earned it, the crew more than happy to kill them for any transgression. They could always get more.

There's rumours and horror stories shared between the slaves, about routes that the Union ships took to a certain place, just to kill them off. They know why, there are a few who were allowed to see it, so long as they kept their mouths shut. That doesn't stop others listening in to their nightmares from what they'd seen.

He had heard a horrified, "It's the _Dark Spear_ " just before they were rammed and he was thrown into the sea.

There's a red glow to his left and it doesn't move right for it to be fire, but he can only stare up at the flag above him. Black background, a purple spear slashing across it, its edges flickering like a flame. It seems fitting.

The air is thick with blood, but the only liquid there is water. Blood's seeped so far into the wood it's stained it permanently, making it look black in the moonlight.

Even with the chill of the dive he just took into the water, he's still too cold for it to be natural. There's ice fingers creeping up his spine and then it grips his wrist.

The wrist that had holds his brand as a slave.

Just as soon as it held him does it stop, warmth encompassing him like a blanket.

That was the ship, he _knows_ it was.

He shivers again, and it's got nothing to with the cold this time.

He used to be a slave of a Union ship, and that life was as shitty and miserable as the crew there made it. But is it better to find himself on a ghost ship, one that had been created from the lives of slaves?


	5. Crossed Wires

**Summary** : "So," Ashleen said, "how are you feeling?" M-21 stared at her, his brain refusing to process the question for a second.

'What if Ashleen survived and Frankenstein raised her while looking for Rai and Muzaka?' AU

Inspired by Runeofluna.

I haven't watched the OVA so Ashleen's characterisation's my own. 

* * *

**Crossed Wires  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

"So," Ashleen said, flicking her braid over her shoulder and then settling her hand on her hip, "how are you feeling?"

M-21 stared at her, his brain refusing to process the question for a second. How was he feeling? His comrade was dead, and the infected they'd made had been enhanced to the point where the infected could kick his ass with ease, proving just how weak he really was. How he didn't have the power to do anything.

But that was contrasted by the brief window of power he'd been shown, what he _could_ be.

"...I don't know," he admitted after glancing around at the living room to make sure they were alone. There could still be cameras, but he did feel more at ease with Ashleen there, especially if she was relaxed around the other two.

She was a modified human like him, but if she was comfortable enough with the other two to talk back and tell the others what to do rather than shutting up and doing what she was ordered, then M-21 would trust that.

And...it seemed like they'd had similar modifications, though hers were far better than his. The transformation Raizel-nim had shown him for that second, she could do with ease by herself and hold it for longer without looking winded afterwards. She'd fucking taken out _Jake_ with no trouble.

For some reason, his response made her smile. "Don't worry," she said, "this is a good rrrr for you."

M-21 stared at her again. She'd just...growled. Had he hit his head harder than he thought?

Ashleen studied his face, her smile going _wider_. "Is there something wrong?"

Her mouth wasn't moving. M-21 could see her throat working, but her mouth wasn't shaping words.

"Great!" Ashleen clapped a hand on his shoulder. "You're quick on the uptake." Now that he was paying attention -even though her words weren't making _sense_ \- he wasn't sure _what_ language he was hearing her speak in, just that he understood it. "Frankenstein's going to _love_ you."

Before he could respond to that, he froze when Ashleen wrapped an arm around his shoulders. It wasn't a scientist's impersonal touch, as if he was a _thing_ , but it wasn't a comrade's touch just to let him know they were there. Ashleen's touch was friendly, grounding him.

She grinned, starting to tug him somewhere into the house. "C'mon," she said, "I'm going to teach you _everything_." 

* * *

Fic decided to end there, even though I did want Ashleen to say something along the lines that she's doing it because that's just what the older generation _do_ with the younger generation. Also, _first person with werewolf blood she's seen in years_ so hell yeah she's gonna teach him everything she knows!


	6. Into the Dragon's Den

**Summary** : There was something wrong with the dragon's den.

Dragon!Rai AU.

Inspired by a conversation with laryna6 that spawned from the prompt 'Imagine your OT3 as a Princess, a Knight, and a Dragon who all live together in a tower. '

* * *

 **Into the Dragon's Den  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

There was something wrong with the dragon's den. Frankenstein had been in a few before, usually searching for a long lost scroll or book that could aid his research — those dens had been filled from floor to ceiling with treasure, haphazard piles of gold and armour with no kind of system to _find_ anything.

 _This_ dragon's den was bare. Frankenstein hadn't realised it _was_ one until he'd started exploring the higher levels and found a dragon so black they were near indistinguishable from the wall they were curled up against, gazing out of a hole in the cave wall. It was the glowing red eyes that had alerted Frankenstein to their presence.

It could have been that the dragon had just moved in, but Frankenstein doubted it, not when Frankenstein had asked them what they hoarded and got a blank stare in return.

A dragon that didn't hoard. How unusual.

But it meant he didn't have to worry about the dragon stealing anything of his, and most other people wouldn't dare attack the den of a dragon.

It was the perfect place to set up his lab to be left in peace. 

xOx

Frankenstein raised his head from his work at the sound of footsteps approaching. Who…? It didn't sound like Raizel, too light and there was no scrape of claws against stone (and Frankenstein had never seen the dragon move from the area he had found them in, let alone _leave_ ).

Hm. It wasn't someone trying to be quiet, and Frankenstein frowned at the man who rounded the corner. He had black, shoulder-length hair and - he was wearing the same clothes as Frankenstein. Not quite exactly — there were gold trim along the hem and collar, and when Frankenstein looked back at the man's face, he recognised those red eyes.

"Raizel…?" Frankenstein said, staring at him.

At the question, the man — Raizel smiled, giving him a short nod. "You had mentioned your experiments were delicate." And he had changed to reduce what damage he could do. If Frankenstein was the first human Raizel had seen in a while (if not the first human Raizel had seen overall), then it made sense that the dragon would use him as a template for a human.

"Do all dragons have transformation powers?" Frankenstein asked, hands reaching for a fresh sheet of paper to write on to take notes.

"Yes," Raizel said, stepping close, his eyes on Frankenstein's instruments.

Hm. Well. Maybe he should add dragons to the list of things he should increase his knowledge on…


	7. Rescue

**Summary** : Tao was going to die. There was no question about it. He and Takeo might have been enhanced to withstand the pressures of space, but they still needed air, and they had a limited supply.

* * *

 **Rescue  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

Tao was going to die.

There was no question about it. He and Takeo might have been enhanced to withstand the pressures of space, but they still needed air, and they had a limited supply.

He could hear Takeo's shallow breathing over the comm at least, but Takeo had stopped responding to him, stopped moving.

Just - shit. Takeo's suit had sealed over the wound -Tao had checked that much before jamming the helmet on and throwing them out the airlock- but he didn't know how deep the piece of metal had went.

Or how Kranz had been able to control the ship like that.

Except Tao did know. Had seen Kranz punch right through Shark and Tao had _felt_ the energies change around them, the lights around Kranz flashing in tandem before going steady. Kranz had dropped Shark's lifeless body at his feet.

Tao could calculate the odds; that was what he'd been enhanced to do.

They'd fought noblesse before. Won against them with no trouble.

They'd never come across a noblesse that was the size of a _fucking planet_ before. This one was red and vaguely bird-shaped, its wings three times the size of its body. Its feathers shone like beams of light, fading in and out of sight like a flickering flame.

Even if Kranz did suck out the energies of all the DA-5 and controlled the entire ship with his thoughts, there was no way he'd win.

Tao had ran. Right into Takeo and Takeo was the one who'd gotten the metal through the gut as part of the ship _twisted_ with a screech at Kranz's roar and stabbed towards them.

And here they were, floating in space with no chance of surviving. But it was better than being used as fuel for Kranz.

Tao exhaled, making sure he had a tight grip on Takeo, keeping him close. Once they died, rigor mortis would set in and maybe they'd eventually drift into a planet's gravity field and burn up together that way. That would be nice.

Tao could feel his right side warming up. Or maybe the noblesse would come after them instead. He looked over to see the noblesse...shrinking? It was still coming towards them, its form changing to a human's, though the wings stayed, attached to its back like a vengeful angel.

It had chosen the shape of a man with shoulder-length black hair wearing a white battle spacesuit that almost looked the same as Tao's. With a cravat for some reason. It didn't wear a helmet or gloves.

It stopped in front of Tao and he edged Takeo away from it, even knowing how futile that was. This close, Tao could see the wings were still moving. Not like feathers fluttering together, but with arcs of light moving across them.

Like solar flares.

Tao sucked in a breath, his eyes widening. They'd just attacked something that was the _embodiment of a star_.

The other noblesse Tao had seen... They hadn't been this powerful.

The noblesse lifted a hand, holding it out to Tao.

He stared and when he glanced at the noblesse's face, the noblesse smiled.

One chance. He had one chance.

It could be a trick, the noblesse burning through him as soon as they touched, but it was a better death than getting the life sucked out of him or asphyxiation.

Tao reached out.

He could feel the noblesse's warmth through his suit when it held him, and the noblesse drew him and Takeo close, its wings enveloping them.

Then Tao's vision went red.

He grabbed Takeo when gravity pulled at them, keeping him upright. When Tao could see again, he was met with familiar chrome walls. It wasn't a Union lab -there weren't any tables with restraints- so with all that machinery, it was a regular med-bay.

"Mast-?" The blond noblesse blinked at them and then nodded. "This way," it said, turning to one of the tables. "Does your friend have any allergies?"

"No?" Tao answered, following it, because what else was he supposed to do?

"Good." The noblesse's suit was changing to that of a surgeon's. This one didn't have wings like the other one, but that had to be because it had better control over its powers. "You can take your helmet off once you've set your friend on the table; the air is breathable." It gestured to the surgery table.

"What are you going to do?" Tao asked instead.

The noblesse arched an eyebrow at him. "Save him, of course."

It was? Tao stepped back once he'd set Takeo on the table, watching the noblesse bustle around him, knowing exactly what to do.

He pressed his fingers to his helmet and lifted it, taking in a deep breath of clean air.

Tao fell back against a table, shaking, his hands gripping the edges the only thing keeping him upright.

They were going to _live_.

* * *

Written for the prompt, 'Imagine your OTP stranded in deep space, holding on to each other as they wonder if they'll be rescued before their oxygen runs out.'

I feel like I should write out what happened before Takeo and Tao are out in space properly rather than recollections, hmmm.

Influenced by dogmatix's phoenix!Obi-Wan (dogmatix tumblr com / post / 139468525023)


	8. Heat Source

**Summary** : All Tao wanted to do was bask his scales in the sunlight, but then he was interrupted by two humans coming close to his nest.

Happy birthday Milkteaghost! They asked for always-Medusa!Tao with Takeo and M-21.

* * *

 **Heat Source  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

Tao lounged on his favourite rock, stretching his wings out every so often to soak up more of the sun. It was a good day — no clouds, a slight breeze and-

His hair lifted, looking south and he slid his tongue out, scenting the air. Nothing yet, but he could detect two large heat signatures coming his way.

More humans. He hissed, twisting down his rock, his tail rasping as he slid over it. More of them had been coming recently, all of them wanting to kill him. He'd been staying away from the town nearby, hunting the game inside the forest since it was easier to drag them back to his cave, but some humans must have found pieces that he'd left behind and realised he was there.

Tao wound up a thick tree trunk, finding the branches that would support his weight as he hunted down the humans before they tried to ambush him.

He slowed as he neared them, anchoring his tail around the tree trunk, lifting the branches away from his hair so he could get a clear shot. Humans thought gorgons turned anyone who looked them in the eyes to stone, but that wasn't true — a gorgon's hair was what caused the true damage, were the ones that spat the poison that overloaded their prey's organs until they died, leaving the body a darkened blue. It must have looked like stone to the panicked humans and the story had spread. It wasn't as if a lot of humans survived to correct the lies anyway. Or maybe they had, but no-one listened to the truth, the lie sounding better.

There were two humans there, the long-haired one an archer, while the silver-haired one didn't seem to hold any weapons apart from a knife at his belt. The silver-haired one was closer, and Tao focused on him.

His hair spat in the direction of the silver-haired one, and he thumped the tree trunk with his tail at the same time, intending to distract them.

It worked, the two freezing just long enough for the poison to hit and Tao launched himself at the long-haired human, his wings carrying that little bit further. He saw the other human's skin darken as he slithered past.

The long-haired human notched an arrow and let it fly, but it went wide, only nicking tao's shoulder. The human was staying his ground though, notching another arrow as-

Half of Tao's hair snapped to look behind him at a growl, and he swerved at what his hair was seeing, turning to make sure it was right.

He scented the air again, and huh, it all matched up. "Why's a werewolf teaming up with a human?" Unless the human wasn't a human either? The discolouration from Tao's poison was already fading from the werewolf's skin, but werewolves were legendary for their healing.

"Because of a job," the werewolf said, crossing his arms, his claws tucked away. "The humans know you're here, and they're willing to pay anyone who can kill you."

Tao hissed at that, drawing himself up, his hair ready to strike again.

"Ah," the human said, holding his hands up in a placating manor, his bow behind his back, "we're not here to kill you. We're here to warn you before someone _does_ kill you."

"And you don't want that." Tao frowned, scenting the air. No, that one was definitely human.

"There's not exactly a lot of us left," the werewolf said with a snort.

...That was true. It had been a while since Tao had met any other supernatural beings. He sighed, flapping his wings before settling them again as he drew his tail close to him.

"So that's why you travel with a human?" Tao asked, glancing between them. Werewolves tended to live in packs, but if there weren't that many werewolves left either...

"He's good company," the werewolf said, and Tao tried to bury to ache in his heart at hearing that. "And it makes some things easier, like when they've set up wards against us."

Huh, was that what humans were doing now?

The werewolf was studying him, his head tilted. "Can you transform to look like a human?"

Tao huffed, stretching his wings out again. "If I could, do you think I would be out here?" His tail and wings weren't something he could _hide_. He would have liked to live amongst humans, if only because they and their machines generated more consistent heat than waiting for the sun.

"Chin-mae...?" the human said, and the two were sharing glances with each other.

"Well?" Chin-mae said, directing it at the human, not frowning, but his lips were pursed.

The human chuckled. "I don't mind. The more the merrier."

...Wait. Were they-?

"Like I said," Chin-mae said, transforming back, leaving smooth skin instead of being covered in fur, "there's not exactly a lot of us left, and you're the first we've met that was actually willing to talk instead of continuing trying to kill us."

"You...want me to come with you?" When he looked as he did?

"Or you can stay here and maybe be killed by a lucky human."

"Ah, Chin-mae can be rather...blunt," the human said, with a strained smile.

"He's a werewolf," Tao said with a shrug. They were like that. "Okay! I'll come!" Tao said before they changed their mind. He lowered his hair so the heads brushed his shoulders instead and wound his way over to them. Chin-mae didn't transform again and the human's hands didn't go near his bow.

So it wasn't a trick. Huh.

If Chin-mae seemed fine travelling with a human, Tao was willing to try it out.

"Hey, Takeo," Chin-mae said as Tao neared them.

"Mm?"

Tao didn't get out the way when Chin-mae leaned over and hugged him, wrapping his arms around his shoulders, too surprised to move. His hair half-raised at the intrusion but it wasn't an attack so they continued to hover there, unsure.

Takeo joined them a beat later, covering what Chin-mae missed.

"Ah-" Tao could taste their scents; he already knew how warm they were, but knowing was different from _experiencing_ and his tail curled around them both, trying to be in contact with as much as possible.

"Gorgons are cold blooded and they usually try to grab heat from either the sun, or physical contact," Tao heard Chin-mae say. It had been so long... "And the faster he gets used to our scents, the faster his hair won't try to poison us while he's sleeping."

Oh…yeah. His hair would react to anything moving before he'd even woken up. He scented the air again, trying to commit them to memory.

He should let go. Tao took a breath, just about to do it, but then stopped. He didn't want to.

"We've got time," Chin-mae said, Takeo making a sound of agreement.

Warm. They were warm. "…Thanks..."

He could get used to this, sharing the warmth of bodies, rather than getting it from the sun.

* * *

Yep, Tao shoots out T2, heh.


	9. Traverse

**Summary** : Ishibil's gotten used to fighting the Union with Tao and Takeo on his back. But his magic still doesn't react in the way he expects and. He's seeing two Taos.

Sooo an anon started talking about wanting the people in the dragon!M-21 verse to meet other people from another dragon verse and. I forgot I have three now? So this is the wrong group meeting up. XD; I'll have the second version up later.

* * *

 **Traverse  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

Ishibil furrowed his eyeridges, inhaling. Where was he? This wasn't his den; there was concentrated magic here, and the scent of wood.

But it smelled of Tao and Takeo.

Exhaling, he opened his eyes, taking in the den around him. It was at least three times bigger than his own, and while his broodmates had carved their den out with their magic, it was essentially a large hole dug out of a mountain.

 _This_ den had been created with intent, walls made out of outcroppings holding organised piles between them. One wall had an arch that led outside, showing a lake so large M-21 couldn't see the other side of it, and another wall held a well-lit tunnel that lead further into the den. Even the floor was smooth, like something that had been polished by the continuous waves of a river.

"You're awake!" Tao's familiar voice and then footsteps coming closer.

What they'd been doing last rushed into Ishibil's head and he exhaled, getting to his feet and flexing his wings. Another group of mages had entered his forest, but when he'd attacked them, his magic had interacted with the mages', making an explosion. He would need to somehow find out more about his own magic and why it didn't seem to be same as other dragon magic.

But Tao was fine and-

Ishibil stared.

There were two Taos walking up to him.

One looked like his own Tao, but the other... Ishibil leaned forward and inhaled, scenting them. They _smelled_ like Tao, except the scent was intertwined with the same one that filled the den. It wasn't like the Union mages being overlaid by the scent of the magical object they were using, but it was as if this Tao was part dragon.

And that would explain the three horns sweeping out from under their/his? hair, the tip of one white. Why the ends of their hands were black and clawed.

"Sooo," his Tao said, leaning on Ishibil's scales like he's gotten into a habit of doing, "it seems no matter what dimension me and Takeo are in, we're a mage and an archer, and we get saved by a dragon, heh."

Dimension? Ishibil continued staring at the other Tao.

"We were dying," the other Tao said, with a small smile. Their voice was similar to his Tao's, but a little lower, a little rougher. "We'd annoyed some mages who were killing dragons-" That did sound like something Tao and Takeo would do. "-and as thanks, Frankenstein bound our souls to his, saving us."

Oh. Hm. If his Tao and Takeo needed saving like that, Ishibil doubted he would be able to do the same: his magic seemed to only lean towards attacking and enhancing his healing abilities.

His ears twisted towards the tunnel leading further into the den, hearing the short scrape of claws on stone. Was that-? He turned his head towards it, seeing his Takeo and this dimension's Takeo standing close to it, but his full attention was on the tunnel, wanting to see the other dragon. What did they look like? Would they look like his broodmates, or did dragons look different in this dimension?

Torchlight flickered off gold scales and-

 _Oh._

Ishibil backed up a step, his eyes widening and his ears flattening. The other dragon was _huge_ , making Ishibil seem like a kit in comparison. No wonder the den was as big as it was; it had to be, to accommodate their size. Their body was more slender than his own, longer too. They had three, thick horns that followed the curve of their skull before they arched out at the back, twisting like waves.

The dragon stopped once they stepped out of the tunnel, and looked at him, rolling their shoulders.

And. What was he supposed to _do_? He had never met any other dragons other than his broodmates, and it had been so long since he'd seen another dragon, since he'd seen body language he'd been used to, his brain wasn't willing to work.

The other dragon huffed and then, keeping eye contact with him, lowered their head so it was below his.

He flicked his wings out part way, pawing at the ground. Were they-? Should he-?

The other dragon kept their head there, still watching him, and he had to do something. They were waiting for it.

Exhaling a slow breath, he lowered his head as well, making it level with the other dragon's.

They flicked their ears and then stepped closer, bumping their noses together. Ishibil could hear the rumble they were making.

Ishibil started at the touch, surprised, but when they drew back, he closed the distance to nuzzle their snout, rumbling in return, his entire body relaxing.

They briefly pressed foreheads together, and the other dragon said, "Frankenstein."

"Ishibil." He couldn't have stopped the rumble in his chest if he _tried_. He'd gotten used to not having other dragons as company, but he'd _missed this._

"Come," Frankenstein said, turning towards the tunnel they'd just come from, "we have a lot to talk about."

They did? What about? But...Frankenstein was older than him, had to be far more practiced in magic. Maybe they knew how they could get back to their own dimension.

...Maybe they knew what was wrong with his magic, and how to fix it...

"All right." Ishibil followed them into their den.


	10. Negotiate

**Summary** : There's two new humans in front of Ishibil's den.

Now for the actual dragon!M-21 'verse meeting the dragon!Rai 'verse! :D

…I thought this was going to be a lot shorter than the other one.

* * *

 **Negotiate  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

Ishibil narrowed his eyes as he flew back to his den. There were two humans standing outside it, the black-haired one standing by the ledge, gazing out at the scenery while the yellow-haired one was closer to the entrance. They weren't dressed in the Union's white, both in black instead, and neither of them seemed interested in entering his den.

It was similar to how he had first met Tao and Takeo.

"Don't attack?" Takeo asked from his back.

"Yeah," Ishibil said, nodding. Maybe this pair would be like Tao and Takeo as well.

As they approached, the wind changed, carrying the humans' scent up to him and Ishibil flared his wings, halting his descent. He heard Tao and Takeo's noises of surprise, but they'd practiced enough times with the saddle Ishibil wasn't worried about them falling off.

One of them smelled of magic. Not like a mage, magic intertwining their scent, but one of them smelled of such concentrated magic, it was if they _were_ magic, rather than a human who wielded it.

He circled above the pair, unsure if he should approach. If the humans (?) had wanted to attack them, the pair should have started already.

"Ishibil?"

If Tao and Takeo were hurt because he made a mistake...

The dark-haired one looked up at him and they locked gazes. He could feel magic curling around his brain, and... The magic had felt powerful enough to crush the entire mountain, but safe. The pair meant no harm. Not to him, or his hoard.

He drifted down and landed, tucking his wings away.

Being closer didn't help to clear up the dark-haired one's scent, but he could smell the other one now, and they smelled like a human. They were magicless, but there was something else there, a tang Ishibil couldn't place. There was also the faint, old scent of their own blood.

The yellow-haired human stepped closer to them, and gave him a short bow. "Apologies for the lack of warning for our arrival, but I'd heard some rumours that the Union was interested in...collecting information from this particular forest. This is Cadis Etrama di Raizel," the human said, and indicating the other with a sweep of his hand, "and I'm Frankenstein."

Both Tao and Takeo stiffened in the saddle and Ishibil tensed. What was wrong?

"The same Frankenstein that kidnaps people and cuts their bodies apart…?" Tao asked, and Ishibil backed up a step, ready to fly again. The black-haired one must have-

"I see you've heard the Union's lies about me," Frankenstein said, their voice calm. "They're rather fond of doing that to those they can't control."

Ishibil exhaled, feeling Tao and Takeo relax.

"People they can't control?" Tao repeated. "What did you _do_?"

At the question, Frankenstein smiled. "I stole something of theirs that they had been working on for a long time and had caused tremendous strife to create. Since they couldn't reach me, they made sure that I wouldn't be able to gather allies easily."

"And that's why you're here?" Ishibil asked, glancing between Frankenstein and Cadis Etrama di Raizel. Was it Cadis Etrama di Raizel they'd stolen from the Union? That amount of magic wasn't normal even for a _dragon_ , let alone a human.

"I was curious about what had garnered the Union's interest," Frankenstein said, nodding, "and would like to offer my assistance, if you wish it."

Ishibil blinked, shuffling his wings. They had done fine by themselves so far, but here had been a few times where it had been close; the Union had perfected their poison further, needing even less to affect him for longer.

Neither Tao or Takeo said anything, and Ishibil turned his head to look at them over his shoulder. He thought they would have by now.

"It's your stuff," Tao said, looking at him, and Ishibil heard the small pause before 'stuff', Tao changing the word just before he said it. Ishibil's broodmates. If he trusted wrong and his broodmates were dug up because of it...

"We'll go with whatever you chose," Takeo added, and Ishibil sighed, wanting to nuzzle their hair.

"That's not the only thing I'm worried about," Ishibil said. "It affects you too." He didn't want his hoard hurt.

"Well, if the Union's mad at him, that has to be a good thing, right?" Tao said with chuckle, patting Ishibil. Takeo made an agreeing sound.

Ishibil lifted his head to consider the other two again. Neither of them had moved from where they were to attack, and he trusted his senses far more than the Union's words: Frankenstein wasn't drowning in human blood, and the magic Cadis Etrama di Raizel wielded wouldn't be used to hurt him or his hoard.

"We're willing to accept your assistance," Ishibil said.

The last time two humans came to Ishibil's den, he gained a hoard. Who knew what would happen this time.


	11. Test Flight

**Summary** : The test flight for Ishibil's saddle should go without a hitch.

An anon asked for, 'DragonM!21 flying amongst the flying sharks' I wasn't sure if they meant my dragon!M-21 'verse or canon!M-21 as a dragon instead, as well as if they meant a crossover or a fusion. I went with dragon!M-21 'verse fused with Storm Hawks, heh. :D

* * *

 **Test Flight  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

"I think that's it," Takeo said, tugging on the straps one last time.

Ishibil nodded and stretched his wings out, making sure the saddle didn't move. It shouldn't, not when they'd already tested it before and adjusted for the problems they'd found. But he wanted to make sure; he didn't want his hoard falling to the wastelands if he wasn't fast enough at catching them again.

"How's it feel?" Tao asked, already clambering up Ishibil's forelegs to get to the saddle.

"Stable." The only way it would move was if it was blasted, and Ishibil's neck and wings protected nearly all sides of the saddle.

"Heh, good." Tao jumped into the saddle with a whoosh of air. "I can't wait to see what terras are nearby!"

"There's not much," Ishibil said, feeling Takeo climb up. He'd told them, but Tao and Takeo had explored all of his terra and since their skimmers had been destroyed after they'd crashed right outside his den. There wasn't anything there to repair them, but there was enough to create a saddle.

"Ishibil, I love your terra and how not even the _Union_ bothers you," Tao said with a laugh, "but I _need_ to see the sky from a different angle! I'm not used to being grounded."

"You're not used to not finding trouble," Takeo said, and Ishibil heard a light thump that must have been Tao hitting Takeo.

"And we won't!" Tao said. "All we're doing is flying to a nearby terra and then coming back. That's all. Unless Ishibil _wants_ to fly to another terra..." Ishibil didn't need to look over his shoulder to know Tao was grinning.

"The terras aren't far from each other here; it wouldn't take that long," Ishibil said. He had enough energy to — the clouds were thin enough to still let sunlight through and he'd eaten the day before. It wouldn't make much difference to him if they came back around after the first terra or visited a few others.

"Yesss!"

Once Takeo settled, Ishibil readied himself and charged. He leapt when he reached the edge of his terra and snapped his wings out, the updraft catching him and letting him soar.

Tao whooped, laughing as they went higher into the clouds.

The saddle felt better this time, and Ishibil was starting to understand Tao and Takeo's signals for where they wanted to go. The problem was when they leaned in different directions, but he could ask them then.

They were halfway to the next terra when Ishibil saw the school of sky sharks emerge from the clouds in front of him.

He continued flying, but he turned his head when Tao and Takeo stiffened, the acrid smell of fear hitting his nostrils soon after.

"What's-"

"Those are _sky sharks_!" Tao hissed, and both of them were leaning back, signalling they wanted to leave.

Ishibil tilted, arcing to change direction. He knew that. "Yeah?"

"They attack anything that moves in the air," Takeo said. Ishibil could hear Takeo draw his bow.

"No, they don't," Ishibil said, furrowing his eyeridges. Was this something else they'd heard about from their stories? "I've flown with them." They weren't interested in trying to eat him and were content to drift from place to place as far as Ishibil could tell.

"But we've seen-! ...They're _really_ not interested in us?" Tao said, twisting in his saddle to watch the sky sharks as they continued drifting at the same pace they'd started at.

"No," Ishibil repeated. "They're not aggressive." Not that he'd seen. "Maybe there's something about ships and skimmers that attracts them." Skimmers were loud enough, ships even louder; they were easy to hear on quiet days.

"Oh," Tao said, sitting straight again. "…But now I want to try-"

"We're _not_ flying with them!"

"Aww, Takeo!"

Ishibil rumbled in his chest as he waited for them to decide. He knew the sky sharks were safe, but he didn't want to scare his half of his hoard just to make a point.


	12. Entry

**Summary** : Tao's still poking about in Frankenstein's house when M-21 walks in.

Been in a bit of a writing funk lately (as well as being unhappy with canon) that I stopped writing for a bit. Messages from Novking1108 and hearing how people have been reacting to my fics have helped pick up my interest in writing for Noblesse again. :3

Prompted by betterprompts', 'I was investigating the jars when the door banged open and he stormed in, dripping mud and ghoul innards from head to toe.' Went AU for this, heh.

* * *

 **Entry  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

Tao looked up and his eyes widened at the sight of M-21. "M! Wrong door. _Wrong door_!" He was _dripping innards into Boss's house_.

"Huh?" M-21 glanced down and then grimaced. "Shit."

If M-21 hadn't realised what state he was in… "Bad night?"

"Like you wouldn't fucking believe. Urgh." M-21 turned and slopped out in the direction he'd come from.

Tao set the jar back in place and followed after him. M-21 would need help getting all that off him and Tao needed to make sure M-21 didn't need patched up (he couldn't tell if the blood mixed in was M-21's or the ghoul's).

They could clean the floor up afterwards.


	13. Lost and Found

**Summary** : Ishibil isn't quite the only dragon like he thought.

So I watched Sky's End yesterday. 8D

Prompted by the anon who asked, 'Dragon!M-21 amongst Storm Hawk dragons'.

If this verse gets a third part, I'll make its own collection post, heh.

* * *

 **Lost and Found  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

"Ishi-!"

Ishibil rolled out of the way of the energy blasts at Takeo's warning, feeling the blasts chase them more than seeing how close they were. His muscles burned, especially where he'd been blasted before they'd realised they'd been surrounded.

Murk raiders. Ishibil had never encountered them before, but the fear in Tao's voice when he'd seem them had been enough to give him a rough idea of them.

There were too many ships and far too many blasters that Ishibil didn't have enough time to call on his magic, not when he had to use all his concentration on swerving out the way of the blasts. Takeo only had a few bolts and Tao's staff had a limited number of shots in it as well. That was far too little for ships that size.

Ishibil jerked his head up at a chest-rattling roar, followed by a screech of metal.

"Woah..."

He glanced over his shoulder and his eyes widened.

On top of one of the ships was a dragon almost the same size of it. The dragon didn't look like him, red and far more angular, but they were still recognisable as a dragon.

"Is that how big you'll grow?" Tao asked, petting his side as the dragon tore through the ships one by one with ease, setting fire to what was left.

"I...don't know." He only had his broodmates to compare with, and while he was the runt of the brood, his broodmates had never reached _that_ size.

But his broodmates hadn't lived for that long... Maybe if they had, they would have continued growing.

Ishibil shook his head. If there was a dragon here, they must have flown into their territory and that was why the dragon was attacking the murk raiders. They shouldn't stay.

But it had been a long time since he'd interacted with another dragon...

"Ishibil?" he heard Takeo say. Right. He couldn't risk his hoard if he was right.

He twisted to leave when the dragon roared again.

And. Ishibil knew that roar. That call. _Come here_. It was different from his broodmates' but it was still recognisable.

So recognisable it was habit for Ishibil to turn and roar a response before he stopped himself.

"What did they say?" Tao asked while Ishibil was still blinking, hovering in the air.

"They want me to go to them," Ishibil said, watching the murk raiders drifting down, their ships fiery husks plummeting from the sky.

"Do you want to?" Takeo asked.

It wasn't a hard question. "Yes." He looked over his shoulder at them. "Do you?"

"Meeting another dragon?" Tao said with a laugh. "Of course I do!"

Takeo sighed at Tao's words, but nodded, a small smile on his face. He stopped smiling, looking at where Ishibil had been hit. "But can you keep flying?"

Ishibil could feel some of his magic collecting at them, healing it. "I'll be able to," he said, flying towards the other dragon. Their home terra shouldn't be too far.

The other dragon waited to make sure they were following before flying off at a speed Ishibil could keep up with.

They wouldn't fly for too long and... Ishibil narrowed his eyes, taking a deeper breath, staring at the dragon.

"Ishibil?" Takeo said. "What's wrong?"

"That's not a dragon," Ishibil said, his ears flat, and that much have been what Takeo had seen. "They smell of metal and oil." Now that he was closer, he could hear the hiss of pistons and a low groan as metal slid against each other with every wing flap. "It's a ship."

"A trap?" Tao asked, and Ishibil felt both Tao and Takeo tense.

"I don't think so..." Ishibil said, inhaling again to make _sure_. The scent hadn't changed: the dragon wasn't made of flesh, but there were tens of other dragon scents clinging to it, and they didn't smell of blood or fear. Ishibil wasn't sure _what_ the people inside had been doing with them but he was willing to follow, just to see the other dragons.

The dragon eventually landed on a terra and Ishibil more collapsed onto it than landed, glad to have solid ground under his claws again. His nose dipped close to the dirt and he didn't have the energy to bring his wings up, letting them droop to the ground. He could smell the dragon kits stronger here and he still couldn't smell blood or fear from them.

"Ishibil!" He felt them scramble out of the saddle and leap over to him.

"M'fine." So long as he didn't have to fly again any time soon.

"You better be," Tao murmured, throwing his arms around Ishibil's snout. "But rest now so you're even more fine."

He snorted at that, but Takeo was rubbing the base of his ear how he liked it and it would be so easy to just close his eyes...

His other ear swivelled towards a hiss from the ship and its stomach swung down, making a ramp.

Standing inside was a yellow-haired human. Ishibil saw the human open their mouth, then look him over.

"My apologies," the human said, hurrying towards them. "I hadn't realised they'd been injured — I would have offered to carry them on my ship's back otherwise."

Tao chuckled, straightening. He kept a hand on Ishibil's snout, stroking his scales. "I don't think he would have agreed to even if you'd offered — he can be a little stubborn about a couple of things."

Ishibil snorted. "Am not."

Tao patted his snout.

The human brightened, peering at him. "You can talk! When did you - ah, I'm getting ahead of myself again." The human dipped their head. "I'm Frankenstein, and I'm something of a Dragon Knight."

A Dragon Knight? Ishibil glanced at Tao and Takeo, but they were frowning.

"I have something that can help to accelerate your healing if you want me to," Frankenstein said, pulling out a green crystal and presenting it to Ishibil.

He leaned over and sniffed it. Ishibil furrowed his eyeridges at Frankenstein's scent: it wasn't fully human, but whatever the rest of it was, it wasn't something Ishibil had encountered before.

Whatever Frankenstein was didn't matter since they hadn't tried to hurt them, and the crystal didn't seem to be a damaging one either. Ishibil nodded, lifting his head.

Frankenstein smiled again and pointed it at him. He didn't move out of the way of the beam that shot out of it.

Warmth washed over Ishibil, concentrating on where he'd been hit. He exhaled when the feeling faded, stretching his wings out with a groan. He didn't feel as bruised as before and it was like he'd just woken up from a short nap.

"How was that?" Frankenstein asked, the crystal still in their hand.

"Better," Ishibil said, rolling his shoulders and settling his wings back in place. "Thank you."

Frankenstein tucked the crystal away. "I should have noticed it earlier." He shook his head. "But I suppose you would rather meet them first before explanations?"

Ishibil had already nodded when he heard Tao's "Them?"

Frankenstein only smiled at Tao before turning to the cave entrance and roaring.

Ishibil's ears pricked, both at responding at the call and hearing high pitched roars answering and a buzz of fluttering wings rushing closer.

That. Was a lot of dragons.

A dark cloud erupted from the cave entrance, swarming around them.

Sunlight glinted off red scales and Ishibil rumbled deep in his chest at the sight of them. At the sight of so many dragons when he'd thought he was the last one.

They looked more like the ship (or was it the ship had been made to look like them?) but that didn't matter to Ishibil. What mattered was they _were there_. Alive and in so many numbers Ishibil wasn't sure he could count them all if he'd tried.

A couple of the kits bumped into Ishibil's snout, chirping, and Ishibil nuzzled them, taking in their scents, trying to memorise them, wanting to remember what it was like to be surrounded by dragons again.

Frankenstein had been talking, but their voice had been background noise compared to the dragons until "-like to help look after them?" What? Ishibil turned his head to look at Frankenstein, focusing on them again. "They would do well with an actual dragon to teach them."

Ishibil stared at Frankenstein. "I...don't know how to raise kits." Hadn't needed to since he was one of the last to hatch in his brood.

The dragon kits had started to settle around him, pressing themselves against his scales and chirping; he couldn't leave them alone either, not after knowing they were here.

"But I'll do what I can. If..." Ishibil glanced around, and Tao was trying to coax a kit closer to him, looking as excited when Ishibil brought back a new piece of technology he'd found, while another kit was standing next to Takeo, sniffing his hair. "Tao and Takeo are okay with it?" It seemed like he already had his answer.

Tao laughed. "I get to play with dragon babies all day? I'm in!"

"Of course we'll help protect them," Takeo said, easing his hair away from the kit. The kit investigated his shirt instead.

Ishibil growled deep in his chest, and warmth filled him when the kits around him responded, growling back and snuggling closer.

Yes, he wasn't going to let anyone hurt them. 

* * *

I was waffling on if it should be Rinjiin or Frankenstein, but then decided that yeah, building a giant dragon ship to protect defenseless kids is _exactly_ something Frankenstein would do. Not sure what Rai would be then, in this verse. He's either a dragon big enough to blot out the sun when he flies, ooor phoenixes exist in Atmos too, heh.


	14. Hollow

**Summary** : M-21's mind was hollow.

999 AU.

Has implied spoilers for 999 though things have been adjusted for the Union.

* * *

 **Hollow  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

M-21's mind was hollow. He stared up at the mountain of rocks, his knees in the dirt, dried blood on his fingers where the stones had cut them. The wounds had healed already.

But that didn't matter.

Nothing did anymore.

He brought up a shaking hand to place it on the rock in front of him, his throat squeezed tight as he tried to drag in another breath.

'24 was gone. M-21 hadn't needed the static in his ear to tell him that.

It was his head that knew, the gaping emptiness that '24's presence had filled.

"After everything that happened…" M-21's chest was heaving, his heart feeling as if it was being compressed by a vice. "After being in _that_ fucking game-!" So many of their comrades had died in it, blown up for choosing wrong or taking too long with the fucking puzzles. Only four pairs survived, and they were 'rewarded' with more experiments, the Union trying to force the connection they'd made open permanently.

The Union succeeded, connecting M-21's and M-24's minds together so they could share information without being in the same room, or even the same country.

It had been strange to share his head with someone else, but it was '24, not a scientist trying to dig into his mind for information or weakness.

"You can't-" Tears streaked down his face, collecting at his chin and dripping to the ground as he slumped.

He'd spent years with '24 in his head that without him, there was a gaping hole in his head and his heart.

"I don't want to be alone again…" 

* * *

Been going through 999 and I was struck with the idea of the M series having gone through a Nonary Game to see if humans could make telepathic connections with each other.


	15. Caught

**Summary** : Tao meowed, wriggling, but it was no use: his scruff was held tight by the dog that had picked him off the streets.

Could be part of the Worth 'verse. Which was part of why I took so long to post this here, since I was trying to decide if I should post it in this collection or with Worth. (And then I forgot about it, oops.)

* * *

 **Caught  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

Tao meowed, wriggling, but it was no use: his scruff was held tight by the dog that had picked him off the streets.

Every once in a while he would see Takeo trailing behind them and that was better than being left alone.

He didn't know _why_ the dog had picked him up, but the dog seemed to be taking him somewhere.

Taking him towards a lighted house, and Tao squeezed his eyes shut at a buzz and then they were inside.

The dog huffed and kept going further into the house. It was…warm there, and it smelled like there was food-!

Tao meowed again when the dog jumped and he could see how far he was from the ground.

"Paws off the - hm?"

The dog let go of him, and Tao sniffed what he was on, investigating the new scents.

"Where did you find them…?"

He froze at a pressure on his back, but it didn't hurt, wasn't a bite.

"It's all right; I'm not going to hurt you."

He glanced at the direction of the voice, and the human had long yellow fur.

Tao whirled around at familiar yowl, and the dog was back, carrying Takeo into the house.

"Is there any more?" The human's voice was gentle as the dog deposited Takeo next to him, and the dog huffed again, snout pushing at both of them.

"Well, I know what Master's answer will be; let's get them some food while they settle in, mm?"

It was hard to understand dog language, but some things were universal: just before the dog pushed away to meet with the human again, they'd said something about a _home_. 

* * *

Written for otpprompt's 'Person A is a cat and person B is a dog. Write your OTP as pets forced to share the same human. ' Forced, ha.


	16. Deny

**Summary** : M-21's wing gets injured during a fight.

* * *

 **Deny  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

"I'm f-"

"You are _not_ fine," Takeo cut in, giving M-21 a sharp look.

"Are we really gonna have to give it a tug to prove it?" Tao said, hovering by M-21's other side.

M-21 _growled_ , his ears flattening for a second before he could control them. "I'll heal." He always did.

"Seriously, M," Tao said, hand reaching over. "I'll tug! You'll yelp!"

"Won't." M-21 batted Tao's hand away, gritting his teeth at the wave of pain that washed over him as he moved.

Tao shot him a dry look. "I could put a piece of paper next to your face and you'd be paler."

"We don't know if wings heal the same as our physical bodies," Takeo reminded him and fuck.

"It should."

Tao leaned in, making sure to keep his distance from M-21's wing, almost ripped out from the base. There wasn't any blood, but that didn't mean it didn't feel like someone had shoved in a block of firey metal inside his body and kept it there. "Mmhm, and the last time they were injured was...?"

"...Years ago." Non-modified humans couldn't _see_ the wings and those were who he and M-24 had mostly been in contact after the agent training. His wings had healed, but he'd lost consciousness so for all he knew it was the scientists who'd fixed him up.

" _Fuck_ ," he hissed, his undamaged wing trembling. " _Fine_." He'd taken a bad hit and everything fucking _hurt_.

There was an explosion in the distance, inky black with purple lighting crashing through the sky.

"Iii think Boss found them, heh," Tao said, watching it.

"Good," M-21 grumbled. He was cradled in their arms just before he lost consciousness.

* * *

Written for polyshipprompts' 'Imagine Person A injuring their wing, and Person B and C (and D or whoever else) fussing over their injury. Person A makes it seem like it isn't a big deal, trying to be tough, but in reality, they're in excruciating pain.'


	17. Hoard Egg

**Summary** : Tao and Takeo want to show Ishibil something.

* * *

 **Hoard  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon

Egg

* * *

"Hey, Ishibil, still alive?"

Ishibil's ear twitched towards the entrance of his den, hearing Tao's familiar voice.

"A fall isn't going to kill me," he said with a snort, getting back to his feet and shaking himself off. His wing twinged where the magic blast had gone through it. He could move his front left hand though, after breaking his arm on the landing.

"People can still die from their injuries," Takeo added, and both humans rounded the corner, smiling at him.

" _Humans_ do," Ishibil said, huffing. "But what's wrong?" he said, glancing between the pair. "I thought you weren't coming back until nightfall?" The sun was still shining.

The two shared a look. "I think…we found something," Tao said, ruffling the back of his head.

Ishibil narrowed his eyes, a growl building in his chest. "Union?"

"No! I don't think it is."

"But we thought it was something you should see," Takeo added.

Huh… Ishibil knew all the areas in his forest - but…he's never explored it at the ground level like Tao and Takeo. There could have been something he missed.

"All right," he said, nodding. "Harness?" They'd been walking a lot already.

They gave him the same dry look. "With _that_ leg?" Tao said, shaking his head. "Not happening."

"It's not too far to walk," Takeo said.

"Fine." Now he was curious about what they had to show him.

xOx

The tree branches were high enough Ishibil didn't have to lower his head to pass by, which was good because he would have preferred to not bash his head against them every time he had to step forward.

Tao and Takeo were talking about their next meal, deciding what it should be and since their gaits were easy and neither of them were trying to keep quiet, they weren't worried about someone hearing their approach.

So what had they found? His brow furrowed, his ears twitching down. It couldn't be another dragon: all his broodmates were accounted for and the Union would have taken anything they found by now. But…

"Ishibil?" Takeo was looking at him over his shoulder. "Is there something wrong?"

He shook his head. "Only trying to guess what you're going to show me."

Tao grinned, chuckling as he twirled his staff. "You don't have to wait for long! We're nearly there."

They were? Ishibil lifted his head and scented the air. He recognised everything, so what…

Ishibil slowed, something scratching at the edge of his awareness. Something was off here. Something unsettling but wasn't at the same time.

"Ishibil…?"

He'd slowed to a stop, the pair a handful of footsteps ahead of him. "Hm." He moved to catch up with them, trying to pin down what he was feeling.

The deeper they went, the more the unsettling feeling grew. It wasn't telling Ishibil to run, just that…

There was something missing.

He jerked his head back, looking around. The trees were the same colour as the rest of the forest, but Ishibil could feel it now, feel it in his claws.

The magic was draining from the area.

"You're feeling it too, aren't you?" Tao said, looking up at him. "That's how we found it: I just…had this weird feeling and had to find out what was making it."

Ishibil huffed. "Of course you would." That was what Ishibil expected him to do now.

"We're here," Takeo said, and Ishibil didn't need them to point to know what they wanted him to see.

The magic in the area was being drawn into a large egg, one that Takeo could comfortably sit inside. It was a speckled grey, the shell bumpy enough it could be mistaken as a rock at a glance.

"That's…" Ishibil couldn't speak, couldn't form words. He knew what that was even though he'd never seen one before. "That's a dragon egg." Where had it come from? How long had it been there? Had he flown over it so many times and not realised it was there?

"We thought it might be," Takeo murmured, putting a hand on Ishibil's scales.

Ishibil shuddered and then collapsed, the strength in his limbs leaving him. He…he wasn't going to be the only dragon anymore?

* * *

Inspired by the-story-shards-universe here (the-story-shards-universe tumblr com / post / 148900586897), but I basically got inspired and then went at it sideways, haha. Dunno if I'll 'canonise' it though. Also might add a little more to this snippet. We'll see.


	18. Play

**Summary** : "Hey," the black-haired human said, turning back to look at the entrance, "did someone leave a window open? We've got a couple of visitors."

Runeofluna asked for sentient hair tie fic with wolfborn!M-21 and cats!T2. XD

* * *

 **Play  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

Tao perked up at the sound of the front door opening, distracted from the similar-but-not house he, Takeo and M-21 had found themselves in. It _looked_ the same, but there were more people staying inside it.

"Aaand we're back!" a voice declared and Tao padded over, ears pricked. That was a new voice.

Someone stepped into view and the human stopped, gawking at him.

"Hey," the black-haired human said, turning back to look at the entrance, "did someone leave a window open? We've got a couple of visitors."

The human thought _they_ had visitors? He lived there!

Tao yowled when he was picked up, hearing M-21 growl in warning. But he wasn't supposed to bite visitors and - oh. He arched his back when the human kept scratching there.

"It's okay!" the human said. "I'm not gonna hurt them. That feels nice, doesn't it?" the human crooned, and Tao purred, sinking into their arms.

"Tao..."

Tao looked over at the voice at the same time the human said, "Yeah?"

Tao blinked, then looked up at the human, and the human was looking down at him too, their eyes wide.

"...Are you fucking kidding me."

"Uh," the human said. Tao? Was the human's name Tao too? "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"There's a wolf in our house with two cats," the third human said, "and they all have our colouring. That's...far too much of a coincidence."

Tao looked over and saw Takeo with the third human, and huh, they really did look alike. Apart from being human. M-21 was still where he was, warily watching the humans.

"Unless it's a weird joke, but Boss wouldn't bring in animals for something like that."

Tao twisted and jumped out of the human's arms, going over to M-21. When he reached him, he rubbed up against the wolf, trying to get him to react.

It helped, M-21 looking away from the humans to nose at Tao's head and Tao purred, waving his tail. Takeo joined them, and they worked together to calm him down.

Tao heard someone snicker. "Yeah, they're acting like us."

"Are not."

Takeo-human walked towards them and stopped a distance away. He crouched and said, "We're going to call our Frankenstein and we'll try and find out what's going on here."

Tao nodded and curled up on M-21, still purring.

Frankenstein always knew what to do. 

xOx

Tao wriggled from his viewpoint on the counter, his ears pricked towards the silver slithering thing moving across the floor. It tinkled with every movement. Interesting!

It was almost directly under him and Tao leaped.

It zoomed away before Tao landed, but it stopped, its cross shaped head pointed towards him. It trilled, lifting its head, and Tao mimicked the movement, curious. What _was_ it?

"Kitty-me, don't hunt Tai-eun, okay?"

Tai-eun? Tao approached Tai-eun, paw by paw, his tail raised.

Tai-eun did the same and Tao sniffed Tai-eun once they were close enough. Tai-eun smelled like Takeo-human mixed with a metalic tang. Huh. How had that happened?

When Tai-eun trilled, Tao meowed back. That seemed the right thing to do, because Tai-eun zoomed away again and Tao chased it, dashing around the room.

They kept away from the furniture but Tai-eun slithered up M-21 and Tao ran straight into him before he could stop.

They rolled in a heap of fur and limbs, Tao ending up pinned by a paw, his tail lashing.

M-21 nipped an ear and Tao sighed. Okaaay, no more running around inside. M-21 lifted his paw and Tao shook himself off, smoothing out where his fur had gotten out of place.

Tai-eun slithered over, draping itself over Tao's back, and Tao started purring again, twisting around to nose at Tai-eun.

He wasn't supposed to run around anymore, but that didn't mean he couldn't play still.


	19. Meet

**Summary** : "Your grandpa's going to be working until late? Hey, you could come over to ours!"

Written for Runeofluna's prompt, asking for the space station au with the kid trio au. :3

Chin-mae's my default civilian name for M-21, haha.

* * *

 **Meet  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

"Your grandpa's going to be working until late? Hey, you could come over to ours!"

Seira blinked at Tao's exclamation. He was walking backwards ahead of the group, facing them with his arms behind his head. He had no trouble dodging the other people bustling around the space station, but Seira suspected it had something to do with his mechanical implants.

"Yeah!" Shinwoo said, nodding. "There's plenty of stuff to do at the Chairman's house."

The Chairman's house? The Chairman of the space station? She looked between the three brothers, waiting to see if they would agree or correct what Shinwoo had just said.

It was Takeo that spoke up. "Ah, sorry," he said smiling, "we didn't tell you, did we? The Chairman's one of our dads."

"It's not exactly something that comes up in casual conversation," Chin-mae said with a snort, one furry grey ear flicking down.

"If you're sure your parents won't mind," Regis said with a frown.

"Naaah," Tao said, waving a hand. "Dad _loves_ it when we bring people around."

"Hm," Yuna said, her gaze going towards the domed ceiling. "We should buy some snacks before going."

"All right!" Shinwoo said, pointing towards the shopping district. "That's our next stop!" 

xOx

"Daaad," Tao called out as he changed his shoes in the entranceway, "we're back and we brought more friends!"

There wasn't a response, but Tao didn't seem worried about that. "Come on in," he told the rest of them before disappearing inside, Ik-han chasing after him.

Tao wasn't in sight when Seira entered, though Ik-han was already spreading snacks across the table. She could hear Tao talking to someone, telling them about his day.

There was a clear door leading to a balcony, and someone was standing there, their bright red wings extended slightly and another pair of legs seen from underneath them. Seira would have thought that was where Takeo had gotten his wings from, but the shape of them was too different, too wide.

From the sound coming from the door... Seira peered over as she passed and ah. The balcony overlooked the main area of the space station.

Takeo and Chin-mae went over to the person and ducked into their wings, the wing curling around them. That had to be their Dad.

Seira meant to look away, to help her new friends unpack everything, but she could sense something about the person, something familiar. But it couldn't...

When he turned around, she was unsurprised to see red eyes greet her.

Seira knew all the noble families, knew all the prominent members of them as well. She heard a sharp intake of breath behind her and Regis must have reached the same conclusion.

There was only one family with the same black hair and that particular aura, and that was the Lord's.

He smiled at her and Seira dipped her head in greeting. As soon as she was able, she would ask. There were so few nobles left, it would be good to know there were more of them out here in space. 

* * *

So many people in one scene it was hard to focus on them. x-x;;;


	20. Play Part 2

**Summary** :Wolf!M-21, meet wolf-born!M-21.

I was talking with madameazzure and this plotbunny came about, haha. Wolfborn!M-21 and canon!M-21 on a full moon! :D

There's like, four different verses in this now, bwahah.

* * *

 **Play  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon

Part 2

* * *

"...Shit," M-21 said, screwing his eyes shut and leaning his head on the back of the sofa.

"What's wrong?" Takeo asked, looking at him.

"It's the full moon tonight."

It was? Tao would have checked, but M-21 had to be feeling the effects already. "Okay," Tao said, "we'll just..." He trailed off, his attention drifting to the animal versions of themselves, who had been curled up in the corner together but were now watching the three of them. "Sooo, what do you think your wolf-self'll think of our new additions?" Three sets of ears pricked up further.

"If I knew, I wouldn't be worrying," M-21 said, and there was already a hint of a growl underlying his words.

Tao smiled as the trio came over, wolf-M-21 sniffing at M-21. "It should be fine. I mean," Tao said at M-21's incredulous look, "you don't attack anyone when you're instinctual."

"That's because I - hey!"

Tao snickered as wolf-M-21 climbed onto M-21, still sniffing him all over.

"I turn into a wolf and instinctual on full moons," M-21 told wolf-M-21. Then he frowned, running his fingers through wolf-M-21's ruff. "Do you change as well?"

Tao _did_ start laughing at that. "Maybe he turns into you!" It would make sense. In a weird way. Everything was weird about this anyway, so who knew what would happen.

Wolf-M-21 shook his head, and okay, they only had to worry about one person being instinctual. 

xOx

M-21 was dozing on Tao's shoulder as Takeo went to open the screen door. That way, if M-21 _didn't_ like their new additions, they had an escape route.

Though Tao eyed his kitty-self and cat-Takeo nudging at wolf-M-21, who was looking a little dazed on the floor.

"So," Tao said, seeing ears flick towards him, "have you been with him for more than a month? ...Moon phase?" How did they track time anyway?

Cat-Takeo shook his head slowly and ho boy...

"M-21 doesn't remember what happened when he transforms," Takeo added as he sat back down, and that wouldn't have helped either. So maybe...

M-21 huffed, curling in on himself as wolf-M-21 growled, twitching. The two seemed to be transforming in tandem, but Tao frowned as he helped tug M-21's top off. M-21 didn't exactly shrink when he transformed, but for the most part, he kept the same mass, just put in different areas.

Wolf-M-21, on the other hand, was bulking out, stretching as bones and muscles grew.

"Uh, Takeo-?" Tao said, his eyes going wide as he heard their cat selves start to yowling. Wolf-M-21 was going to be bigger than _Takeo_ at the rate he was changing.

"Getting it."

Takeo lunged forward, picking up the table and a chair before wolf-M-21 bumped into it, setting them down in a corner.

"So much for worrying about our M-21 attacking you," Tao murmured. They still would, but wolf-M-21's paws were now huge enough that they could wrap around Tao's _head_ and still have room to spare. "And no way you're going to fit through the door now."

Wolf-M-21 didn't seem to be turning into a human form — from the more angular snout and how his fur seemed to have stayed clustered around his head and arms, it seemed like wolf-M-21 had the more 'werewolf' looking transformation out of both of them. Who was their height on all fours.

His and Takeo's kitty-selves were at wolf-M-21's head, sticking close, and Tao ran his fingers through M-21's fur as M-21 tensed.

"It's just us, M," Tao said. "Nothing to-"

M-21 leaped off the sofa, snarling with his hackles raised. Wolf-M-21 scrabbled to his paws as well, but froze when he saw M-21.

While M-21 was still growling, wolf-M-21 leaned forward a little, sniffing. Then wolf-M-21 lay down, lowering his head, still watching M-21.

M-21's growl trailed off, and Tao breathed a little easier. It didn't look like M-21 was going to attack.

When M-21 slowly approached wolf-M-21, wolf-M-21 waved his tail a little and rolled onto his side.

That seemed to get rid of the last of M-21's cautiousness and the two bumped noses, their tails wagging. Kitty-Tao and cat-Takeo joined in with the greeting and Tao only got the vague sinking feeling when he saw wolf-M-21 go into a play bow.

"Woah, woah, wait a minute!" Tao said, jumping to his feet and waving his hands. "The living room's way too small if all four of you start chasing each other." Not to mention all the things that _would_ get broken.

"You can play downstairs in the lab," Takeo added.

"Though it's gonna be a bit of a squeeze getting you through the doorframes," Tao told wolf-M-21, eyeing him. He'd _fit_ , but only if he twisted around.

There were nods all around, and Takeo led the way downstairs. 

xOx

M-21 breathed in as he woke up, both warm and cold. He was lying naked on the lab floor, but there were a number of bodies pressed up against him.

"What happened?" he grumbled into Takeo's thigh.

"You transformed and became instinctual, and so did wolf-you," Takeo told him, a hand on M-21's shoulder. "And then we all played for the entire night."

'We all'? M-21 lifted his head and saw Tao's head resting on Takeo's other thigh, cat-Tao curled up on his back.

If they'd played, then that meant he hadn't attacked the others. Good.

He sighed, laying his head down again. "All right."

It wasn't that much different from how he usually woke up after a full moon.


	21. Play Part 3

**Summary** : Cat-Takeo wants M-21's help with something.

I...could not be bothered separating this into its own post, so third part is getting put here still. XD;

* * *

 **Play  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon

Part 3

* * *

M-21 looked at his shoulder when a weight dropped on it, getting a face full of whiskers. "Hey?" he said, lifting a hand to scratch cat-Takeo behind the ears. It was usually cat-Tao that demanded attention, cat-Takeo content laze in sun spots.

Cat-Takeo purred and then jumped off his shoulder again, landing on the counter before meowing at him.

M-21 watched as cat-Takeo purposely looking at wolf-M-21, who was outside in the garden, then licked himself.

"I don't get it."

Cat-Takeo sighed, then stroked the counter once, twice, three times, then stopped, staring at him.

Three? Cat-Takeo, wolf-M-21... Shit. "Where's your Tao?" He could empathise with feeling wary if he didn't know where Tao was.

Cat-Takeo nodded and leaped onto his shoulder again, wrapping his tail around M-21's neck, the tip resting on his collarbone.

If cat-Tao wasn't around... "He's probably downstairs," M-21 murmured, heading for Frankenstein's lab. Where his Tao was.

Cat-Takeo meowed in what M-21 guessed was agreement.

Tao was humming something when they reached the security room, something M-21 recognised but couldn't place.

At least Tao wasn't typing away, so he must have decided to take a break.

Tao swivelled his chair around, and there was cat-Tao on his lap being stroked. "So we meet again, Mr. Lee," Tao said in English, grinning at him as cat-Tao meowed.

...Right. _That_ was where M-21 had heard that tune before: it was the theme song of that spy movie they'd been watching the previous night.

"We just saw you a couple of hours ago," M-21 said, sighing.

Cat-Takeo jumped off his shoulder, heading for both Taos.

"And this is us, meeting again after our long absence from each other," Tao said, snickering. "Do you wanna join in too?" Tao asked cat-Takeo after he leaped into his lap. "Or are you here to keep us out of trouble?"

"Keep you both out of trouble," M-21 said dryly. While having one Tao was hard enough to keep an eye on, let alone two, at least they also had more eyes to watch them as well.

"Eeeh." Tao ducked his head to nuzzle cat-Takeo. "And scritches. I totally give the best scritches around here, don't I?"

A laugh bubbled out of M-21's throat before he could stop it when both cat-Tao and cat-Takeo shook their heads.

Tao's eyes went wide and his jaw dropped. "Wait, _seriously_? Who's the better scritcher?"

All he got were meows in reply, and as M-21 left, he heard Tao's wail of, "Tell meeee!"

That should keep him distracted from his work for a little while.

* * *

It's Rai. Rai's the best petter, haha.

Prompted by an anon who asked for Tao acting like a Bond villain with kitty-Tao, haha.


	22. Cracked Mirror

**Summary** : : M-21 finds himself in a familiar place he doesn't want to be and meets a familiar face that shouldn't be there. From there it goes downhill.

Not sure if I'll continue on from this, haha.

* * *

 **Cracked Mirror  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

M-21 frowned as he walked down the pristine corridors that screamed Union lab at him. He'd been in them enough times to recognise the fucking fake _plant_ all their labs had, bulk-buying them from the same place, probably.

This had to be a dream. Why else had he found himself in a lab without remembering how?

Except...

M-21 pursed his lips. There was far too big a chance he'd been kidnapped and his memories erased.

Dread grabbed him but M-21 shoved it down, still moving forward. He could worry when he found something. And to do that, he needed to get out. He avoided approaching footsteps, but he didn't have to do that often. There weren't any windows or clocks on the walls, but it had to be night.

A double-door to M-21's left slid open and-

Huh.

He had to be dreaming then — it was Frankenstein that stepped out from the room, wearing his usual labcoat.

M-21 relaxed, a smile starting to curl his lips. All he had to do was wake up then.

A frown tugged Frankenstein's down lips, his eyebrows drawing in as he looked M-21 up and down. Assessing him. M-21's smile faded, the hairs at the back of his neck raising.

"M-21, where did you get that suit?" The question was mild, softly asked, but M-21 recognised his sharp look.

Unease grew in M-21. Or his dream was diving into a nightmare, because Frankenstein was looking at him like a Union scientist: M-21 was just a convenient source of data for him, nothing of worth.

"I bought it."

"Oh?" Frankenstein raised his eyebrows as he tilted his head. "With what money…?"

M-21 gritted his teeth, wanting this nightmare to _end_ already, especially with the implications it was giving him. "With the money _you_ paid me, Frankenstein."

Frankenstein smiled. It didn't reach his eyes, his gaze calculating, like M-21 had upgraded himself into something that piqued his interest. Something that needed to be studied _right now_. "And where did you hear that name, mm?" Frankenstein purred, advancing on him. The movement made something swing on his breast pocket: there was an ID card clipped there, the name on it simply stating 'Dr. Lee'.

This was wrong. Not just how Frankenstein was acting, but everything felt too _real_. M-21's instincts were screaming at him to run, his heart kicking up in preparation, ready for him to transform. And he'd been so distracted with Frankenstein he hadn't noticed there were people approaching from behind.

M-21 backed up a step, swivelling around to see who was behind him and froze.

There were three people walking up, two of them in labcoats flanking the third. It was the third person that made M-21 stop, his brain trying to understand what was in front of him.

The person in the middle was _himself_ , wearing the all too familiar plain clothes of experimental material.

He wasn't an exact copy: his hair was longer than M-21's had been, falling past his shoulders, his skin so pale it must have been years since it had been touched by the sun. Those differences weren't what made M-21's stomach twist at the sight of him.

It was the old scars that circled his double's neck and wrists, sunk in enough that chunks of flesh must have been torn out. M-21 could see the line of restraints, but there were others that spread out like they'd traced up veins to reach further and damage more.

And what made M-21's temper flare was he _recognised_ those injures, the purple so dark it was almost black imbedded in the skin. He'd had them once before and M-21 snarled as he transformed, whirling around and slashing at the fucking _bastard_ that had Frankenstein's face.

A black shield threaded with purple snapped up in time to protect Frankenstein, not that M-21 expected anything less. As Dark Spear shot out at him, M-21 arced his arms up, tearing through the ceiling.

He hadn't passed any windows and everything pointed to them being in an underground lab. M-21 was rewarded with the ceiling caving in with a fountain of dirt and debris pouring in through the holes he'd created to block the corridor.

It wouldn't stop Frankenstein for long, M-21 already feeling the warning prickle of Dark Spear gaining in strength. The scientists had scrambled back at the fight, one of them fallen back on their ass, and the sound of their blood splattering against was the wall was _so fucking satisfying_ , their cooling blood on his fingertips feeling real as they dripped from his claws.

"Come on!" he snapped as his wide-eyed double, lunging forward and grabbing him above where Dark Spear had bit, pulling him down the corridor.

Wherever M-21 was, whatever was happening, he wasn't going to let someone like him be used as experimental material if he could help it. 

* * *

Inspired by sharingwritingprompts' 'An accident throws a person into the wrong timeline, and the only one who understands what happens is the person who was their mortal enemy in their proper timeline.'


	23. Cracked Mirror 2

**Summary** : : Staircase conversation.

Contains mentions of Union!Frankenstein being a Union scientist, and the mistreatment of experiments. Abusive relationship undertones.

Using up all the italicises I hadn't for the other fics, pfft.

Thanks to Hellse Bunny for listening to me and helping me while I wrote this. 83

* * *

 **Cracked Mirror  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

M-21 stumbled up the stairs, still not sure if he was following someone who looked so much like him apart from missing a few scars or a hallucination. The hand clasped around his arm felt real, a steady pressure that wasn't tight enough to hurt.

"Where - where are we going?" He almost couldn't keep up with his twin, and there had been a few times where a quick yank to his feet had saved him from tumbling over.

"Where do you think?" his twin said, still climbing the emergency staircase. "The fuck out of here."

M-21 stopped, trying to rip his hand out of his twin's grip. His twin's hand didn't let go, but he did stop to frown at him.

"What?" his twin said.

" _Outside_?" M-21 gaped, taking a step back, this time his twin letting go. He couldn't. Everything that had happened crashed around him, and Doctor Lee was going to be _so mad_. Two scientists were dead, a _mess had been made_ , and he'd run from the punishment-!

He had to go back. The faster he did, the less mad Doctor Lee would be.

...Doctor Lee would still be mad, but the punishment wouldn't be as long if he grovelled and promised to never do it again.

"Yeah, outside." His twin eyed him, his lips pursed. "You want to stay _here_?"

M-21 stared at him. "How do you not - there are _mutants_ outside!"

 _That_ seemed to startle his twin, his eyes going wide. "Mutants?" Then he shook his head, snorting. "How do you know they weren't just saying that to keep you in line?"

"I..." M-21 kept staring at his twin. "I've seen them," he said. Their twisted bodies that got dragged in for Doctor Lee to study. Seeing one meant M-21 and his comrades wouldn't be experimented on while Doctor Lee was distracted with a new body different from the last one. They were becoming less recognisable as human, backs hunched over to let them run on all fours, slobbering jaws filled with sharp fangs, their skin a discoloured grey.

Understanding softened his twin's face. "And it's better to be here than outside."

M-21 nodded. He was experimental material here, but he was _alive_ rather than a mutant or the mangled mess they left behind.

"So you've never thought about a time where you weren't just waiting to be experimented on?"

M-21 let out a choked laugh. "You think I could survive out there?" He waved a hand towards the ceiling.

"Yeah." His twin's gaze was steady and confident. "You're stronger than you think." M-21 was about to scoff but his twin continued. "You've survived all the time - and why do you think you have to be restrained so tightly?"

M-21 paused at the question. He was the only one of his comrades who Doctor Lee still used Dark Spear with. It had been because he'd been so unwilling to bend at the start, but... "Only because Doctor Lee knows the limit of human bodies..." But...it sounded hollow. Reaching. What if...?

There was a terrifying feeling of hope building in M-21's chest. It had to be crushed before it overwhelmed him, because hoping had led to nothing before and it hurt so much to fail.

...Could he actually live and not pay for that privilege with his body being experimented on?

His mouth moved before he could stop it, still powered by that damnable hope. "Do you think my comrades would become as strong as me?" Why was he different from them? How could he transform when they-

" _What_?" His twin's eyes were wide again. "Your - how many?" he demanded.

"All?" What did he mean? "There's a hundred of us."

For the first time, M-21 saw his twin pale, using the banister to hold himself upright as he trembled.

M-21 watched him collect himself, but why had _that_ piece of information been so shocking for him...?

* * *

So I realised that if Frankenstein decided to get into human experimentation because of self-interest rather than protecting humanity, there wouldn't have been someone to call out nobles about their involvement with mutants... Honestly, after 800 years there really shouldn't have been much of humanity left but yeah.


	24. Search and Find

**Summary** : On a routine attack on a Union lab, Frankenstein finds one of his own kind.

Contains: dragon!Frankenstein, dragon!M-21.

* * *

 **Search and Find  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

Frankenstein's ears twitched as he lifted his head. Hm, was that-?

Interesting. Dragons could sense other dragons in the general vicinity, but there was something wrong with the dragon closest to him.

They were young for a start. Too young to be alone, but they also didn't _feel_ like a dragon. It was as if someone had ripped a dragon to pieces and then tried to shove the choicest parts onto something else.

Frankenstein sent a baleful glare around the building around him. Considering how he was in a Union lab, it wasn't that surprising. It was the first time he'd found something like this, however.

He stalked down the corridors, going further underground, tracking where the kit was.

"Wh - dammit!"

Frankenstein snapped a wing up to deflect the ball of magic the Union mage sent at him. Before the mage could summon more magic to them he pounced, crushing the human under his claws. He didn't need magic to deal with them, and he refused to give the Union more data to study to use on other beings.

He kept his ears pricked, but he couldn't hear anything else moving. The rest of the humans must have evacuated while he was busy on the upper levels.

He could sense the kit better now and he extended a light greeting touch towards them.

The kit balked at that, skittering away and trying to make themself as small as possible.

Frankenstein narrowed his eyes and growled, making sure his anger didn't bleed through where the kit could sense it. They were someone who had never been in contact with their own kind, who must have been ripped from their family from birth, or had been born here.

Well then. It was time for the kit to meet their own kind. 

xOx

Frankenstein had pinpointed where the kit was and headed straight for it, reaching out every once in a while so the kit would get used to sensing someone else.

The kit had stopped cringing back at his touch, uncertainty rippling from them.

He found the door that barred the way from the kit and he snorted at it before he reared up on his hind legs. He placed his paws on the door and gouged his claws in, tearing the door off with a dull shriek.

Frankenstein placed the door next to the hole he'd created and poked his head in. "Hello?" The room was still lit, and it seemed empty.

Seemed.

Movement caught his eye and Frankenstein turned his head towards it.

There was a cage in the corner, too small for someone of Frankenstein's size, but just enough for the form that was huddled inside it. He padded in, ducking his head to see inside better.

Silver wings that were too big for that form, scaled arms that ended in claws. Apart from a thick tail that curled up around their feet, the rest of them was covered in soft skin.

"I'm not here to harm you," Frankenstein said, reaching out mentally again to show he wasn't lying, and the kit's head snapped up, their eyes wide.

Their face was flat like a human's, fur covering their head instead of horns, but scales were creeping in from their cheeks towards their nose.

More uncertainty and the kit looked away again.

Hm. Frankenstein approached the cage, eyeing the bars. They were thick enough to trap the kit, but for him, it would give him less trouble than the door.

He slid his paws between the bars and spread his arms, the metal buckling under his strength, and he left a space big enough for the kit to step through.

The kit glanced at it, but stayed where they were.

"Do you want to leave?" Frankenstein asked, an ear twitching down. Why were they not moving?

No response.

Frankenstein tilted his head and settled down, crossing his front limbs over each other; there were no more Union mages or scientists in the building, and even if there were, he could deal with them with ease.

"Can you talk?" Frankenstein tried again. Was that why they weren't responding?

[No...] The voice was muted, listless, like they were fading right in front of Frankenstein. [Never could.]

[Yet you talked right there,] Frankenstein said over their minds instead, seeing the kit jerk and stare at him. Good. It was a reaction.

[You... You can hear me?]

"Of course I can," Frankenstein said. "We're both dragons."

The kit ducked their head, staring as they opened and closed their paws. [I'm not. I don't look like you. (I don't look like anyone.)]

Frankenstein pretended to not hear the private thought. "You're like me enough we can talk to each other, mind-to-mind. And that is enough for me.

"I'm Frankenstein," he said, extending his wings a little in greeting.

The kit stared at him, and ah, of course.

"What's your name?"

[My name?]

"What do they call you?" Surely...

[Oh!] The kit perked up at that. [M-21.]

Frankenstein flared his nostrils and fought to make sure the kit didn't sense his anger. That wasn't a dragon name, or a human name. "Very well. M-21, do you want to leave?"

[Okay.] The kit got to their feet, standing like a human though hunched over to accomodate the weight of their wings, and walked over.

Hm. "That isn't what I asked," Frankenstein said, and the kit froze. "I asked if you _wanted_ to leave."

[You want me to leave.] Said as a fact and Frankenstein trapped his growl.

The kit had no voice the humans could hear and the humans wouldn't listen to them anyway, forcing them to do things they didn't want to. Whatever the humans wanted, they did. Dammit.

"I do want you to leave," Frankenstein said, and the kid bobbed their head, walking closer. "This is no place for you," he continued, standing up, "and there will be no-one here for a long time."

No curiosity followed that statement, the kit following him as Frankenstein led the way.

Frankenstein kept his ears pinned on the kit as they made their way to the surface but while slow, the kit's feet were sure. There were still no questions from the kit, no wondering what had happened, even as they passed bloody corpses. The kit was still going through the routine of doing as they were told without question.

Once they were outside and far away from the Union's influence, Frankenstein was going to change that.

Most of the fires had already died out as they went up, but the air was still filled with the scent of ash and charred bodies.

The kit was breathing harder as they reached the surface and Frankenstein turned to nudge them forward with his snout. "We're nearly outside," he told them. "There will be fresher air there."

[(Outside? Fresher air?)]

Terms they'd never heard before. Hm, what _did_ -

[Ah!] Panic slammed through Frankenstein's mind as the kit pressed up against him, trying to scramble back inside.

"What is it?" Frankenstein demanded, stepping where the kit had been, protecting them.

There was nothing there. A few smoky remains, but no living humans. The forest around them shivered with the wind, but that was it.

"M-21?" he said, turned around to look at the trembling kit. "What's wrong? What did you see?"

Images of blue filtered into Frankenstein's mind, of endless stretching blue above their heads that never stopped and. Oh. Of course.

"You've never been outside," Frankenstein murmured, leaning in to nuzzle the kit's head.

The kit tensed at the touch, expecting a blow.

"I wouldn't do that," Frankenstein said, but he retreated anyway. "I did that as a reassurance." But if the kid didn't want to be touched, he would respect that.

 _Now_ the kit was confused, waiting.

"You didn't want to be touched," Frankenstein explained.

[But...] The kit shook their head. [I never want to be touched. (Hurts) They still do it.]

"And they shouldn't have," Frankenstein said. "With me, if there's something you don't like, tell me and I'll stop. You don't need to endure through it."

More confusion. [(Why is he acting differently? Because he's not human?)]

That was one reason for it.

Hm. Frankenstein glanced outside, his ears pricked, and then he sat down. "We'll stay here until you feel comfortable going outside." They had some time until anyone came looking. 

* * *

Prompted by Myriade's 'Dragon Frankenstein finds dragon M-21, only the latter is very damaged because union.'

It was going to end with Frankenstein leading him out with his wing above M-21 so M-21's got something he's used to, but it ended just a little before that.


	25. Crossed Wires Part 2

**Summary** : Ashleen takes M-21 to an island for some reason.

Thank thedreaminus for this continuation, heh.

* * *

 **Crossed Wires  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

M-21 glanced around, but as far as he could tell, the island was just an island. One that hadn't been touched by humans for a while, and M-21 didn't sense he was being watched either.

Ashleen hummed as she wandered over to the tree line, picking up a few fallen branches and inspecting them before dropping them again. What was she doing...?

The other modified human hadn't given him any explanation for why they were there except 'we're going to an island!' at his startled 'what?' when she'd grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the noblesses' house.

The noblesses that weren't acting like what he was used to. The uncertainty was setting his teeth on edge, waiting for the noblesses to show their true colours, to be exactly like every other bastard that had held power over him.

"Aha!" Ashleen held a branch above her head with a grin before twirling it in the air. "Perfect."

When she tossed the branch at him, it wasn't like a spear throw and it slapped solidly into M-21's palm. Ashleen had found a second branch to her liking by the time M-21 had finished looking over the one she'd thrown: it seemed like any other branch.

Training...? That couldn't be right. One half-hearted flex would reduce it to splinters.

"C'mon!" Ashleen said, stepping into the forest as M-21 stared after her.

He was supposed to obey without complaint no matter what he thought. Questions were unnecessary and unwanted. Time wasters.

But this was Ashleen, another modified human. And she wasn't worried about the noblesses. But she was strong. Useful.

"M-21?" She had paused only a little way in, the branch leaning against her shoulder. "You gotta question?"

He hesitated, looking around one more time. They were alone. "What...are you going to do here?" He'd gotten used to leading '24, to discussing plans with his comrade, asking his opinion. Whatever he decided, it affected M-24 as well. And while Ashleen was another modified human, he wasn't quite used to her presence.

" _I_ -," Ashleen said, twirling her branch again, "-am gonna teach _you_ how to fish!"

...

What.

"Why...?" he asked, looking at the branch at a different angle. A rod? But why did they need to use a tool if she could just use her enhanced speed to catch the fish with her bare hands?

"It's something different to do," Ashleen said, "and it'll be fun!" She grinned at him.

Fun...? M-21 glanced at the branch in his hand again. He didn't think he would find it fun, but...it had gotten him out the house with an accepted excuse and he wasn't going to waste that.

"All right," M-21 said, nodding as he followed after her.

Fishing, huh... It wasn't a skill he'd needed before, but maybe he could use what he learned for something else.

And maybe he'd start getting used to the people in the house and what they did. 

* * *

M-21's going to feel like an ass when he finds out Ashleen was born with werewolf blood, haaa...


	26. Search and Find Part 2

**Summary** : Tao goes up a mountain to find dragons.

* * *

 **Search and Find  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon

Part 2

* * *

Tao squinted through the pouring rain as he pulled himself up over the edge of the rockface he'd found, his boots sliding over the slick surface until they found purchase.

"Aha!" He got a mouthful of rain for that, but he'd found a _cave_. _Shelter!_ Large enough that three of him could stand on each others' shoulders and still not reach the top, and deep enough that he couldn't see much more than one step in. _That_ would protect him from the rain!

He scrambled up and dashed forward, one arm raised to give his eyes a minuscule level of protection.

"Jeez," he grumbled once he was inside, shaking off what excess water he could and placing his bag at his feet, "for a mountain that's supposed to have a dragon on it, they're hard to find." He _was_ on a mountain though, and maybe they used magic to hide where their den was.

...Huh, damn, if _that_ was the case, then he was screwed.

Tao blinked, cocking his head to the side. There was the constant thud of the falling rain but there was something else there, a high keening sound.

And it was coming from behind him.

The hairs at the back of his neck prickled and Tao turned as slowly as he could, trying to not make any sudden movements. He must have wandered into something's den. Probably not a predator by the sound of it.

Lightning crackled and Tao's eyes widened at the sight before it disappeared.

Silver wings by the look of it, arms ending in scaled hands, a long tail curved around and maybe stubby horns poking out of silver hair. The rest...was human. They'd been huddled up against the wall on all fours, their tail curled around their feet.

A dragon hybrid? Could humans and dragons even _have_ kids? Dragons were _huge_! But with magic... And maybe dragons had human forms too. Tao didn't know; that's why he'd gone looking for dragons in the first place.

The dragon was still making the high pitched sound and Tao winced, running a hand through his hair. He wanted to see dragons, not _scare_ them.

"Hey, it's okay," Tao said, trying to make his voice both soft and loud enough to be heard over the thundering rain, "I'm not here to hurt you. I'm just going to sit here, all right? Nothing else." Which was a teensy bit of a lie because he _really_ wanted to go over and see if those scales felt as smooth as they looked, but the dragon had looked ready to flee if he took another step towards them.

There was a garbled buzzing inside Tao's head, like someone was trying to shake words directly into him. "Uh, sorry, I don't think I can understand you." He was pretty sure that was the dragon trying to talk with him. Or maybe they were-

Tao yelped as he was knocked off his feet, a crushing pressure on his back. He stared wide eyed at the golden claw tip the size of his head by his face, not daring to breathe too hard, in case that was the wrong thing to do.

Because there was something Very Sharp pressed into the back of Tao's neck and he'd only seen one dragon claw. That had to mean there were other claws that could very easily slice through his neck and he _really_ should stop thinking right now.

Tao squeezed his eyes shut, biting his lip to stop himself from screaming when something breathed over his head, all of his hair ruffling from the force.

"And what," a deep voice rumbled right into his ear, "are you planning on doing with my kit?"

"Nothing!" he squeaked. "Absolutely nothing!" He was dead. Huge parent dragon wasn't going to believe him and was going to fling him over the side of the mountain. Maybe even to the sun! "I just came here for protection from the rain!" Please don't kill him, please don't make him a red smear across the floor. He was sure huge parent dragon could feel his heartbeat, it was thundering around Tao's body so hard.

Huge parent dragon didn't say anything for a few seconds and Tao spent that time thinking of every way the dragon could kill him.

"I thought you came here to find dragons," huge parent dragon said and magic. It had to be because of magic huge parent knew.

"I came to the mountain to find dragons," Tao said, his words tumbling out so fast he hoped he was still understandable. "I came _here_ because of the rain." And found dragons.

"And why did you want to find us."

"Curiosity?" If he somehow survived this, Takeo was never going to let him out of his _sight_.

"Curiosity."

"Mmhm!"

"Is your curiosity satisfied, human?"

"Not really-" Why was there no filter from his brain to his mouth (something Takeo had said multiple times was one of the biggest reasons Tao kept landing himself in trouble. The other was his curiosity.) and why couldn't he _stop_? "'cause I wanted to know if food roasted by dragon fire tasted different from regular fire."

"You...came here so we could cook for you?"

"No! Nononono." Tao would have shook his head except for. Well. The claw still pressed at his neck. "No cooking is involved; I brought marshmallows. I just need your fire for a minute or two." It depended on how hot their fire was.

There was another pause. "You climbed this mountain, not knowing if a dragon lived here, for the sake of satisfying your curiosity of if dragon fire burns differently from regular fire?"

"Yes?" He just wanted to know!

He got a low chuckle from that, and the pressure and sharp pointy claw were removed from his back. Tao sucked in a deep breath once he had enough space to.

"Far be it for me to curb such curiosity," huge parent dragon said.

Tao peeked over his shoulder and saw bright blue eyes peering down at him.

"I'll - go get the marshmallows then." He scurried to where his bag was, not needing to duck to go under huge parent dragon and glad the bag hadn't been crushed.

Huge parent dragon had settled further into the cave once Tao had dug out the marshmallows, their front legs crossed over each other. They'd also hidden their kit from view.

Definitely no going near the kit any time soon.

"Got 'em!" he said, waving the bag in the air and okay, it was time to find out if dragon fire made things taste different! And who knows, maybe dragons _liked_ roasted marshmallows.

* * *

Inspired from promptlywritingideas' ' "I'm half-dragon, and I've always hidden that from everyone, but now you know, and somehow, you don't think it's awful? And you're touching my scales? And asking me to roast you marshmallows? I can't decide if I'm relieved or annoyed." Au and Madameazure getting me to think of this verse again. :D


	27. Stand-off

**Summary** : Tao stumbled through the forest, his breath short as he leapt over roots, his grip tight on his staff as he heard the horses draw close. Damn! Did they have someone who could sense mages with them?

This was going to be part of the Hoard verse but some details didn't match up, so let's just say it's an au of an au, pfft.

* * *

 **Stand-off  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

Tao stumbled through the forest, his breath short as he leapt over roots, his grip tight on his staff as he heard the horses draw close. Damn! Did they have someone who could sense mages with them?

There was a clearing in front of him, a break in the trees lighter than the re-

Wasn't a clearing!

Tao jammed his staff into the ground, yanking himself back so he wouldn't _fall off the cliff edge._

The waves rolled against the cliff below him but that wasn't enough to hide the sharp rocks jutting out from under them. If he jumped from here, he _might_ be lucky to miss the rocks but he could still end up getting smashed against them.

Tao whirled around at the sound of a horse pulling to a stop.

"Prince Tao," the knight riding the horse said, more knights joining her. There was an almost patient look on her face. But she was more puzzled. "Why did you run?"

"Yeah, well," Tao said, shifting his feel closed to solid ground, "I'm not interested in marriage." And that was would happen if he went with them. Married so they could make a grab for his kingdom and _that_ wasn't going to happen.

The knights eyebrows rose, her eyes glancing around. "You would prefer to live _here_? You've already been abandoned by your knight; there's no-one to keep you safe."

Tao stared. "You...don't know who lives here, do you?" She would have said something else if she knew.

A cloud passed overhead, throwing everything in shadow for a second as the wind picked up. Tao drew his cloak around him, tugging his staff back, trying to draw magic to him as unobtrusively as possible while he watched more knights and mages circle him.

"Wild beasts? Your knight was eaten?" the knight guessed. She shook her head. "Then you would be safer in your castle." She raised her hand and Tao tensed, the air fizzling with magic from the mages.

The ground shuddered as roots thrust themselves out, racing towards him.

Tao channelled the electricity down his staff, stopping a few.

Not enough.

The others were still going to get him.

Tao span around and jumped.

He heard their cries of surprise for a second before the wind snatched it away and he tumbled down, keeping a tight grip on his staff. He didn't want to see the sea rushing towards him so he looked towards the sky and grinned.

Takeo was on Ishibil's back as they dived towards him, Takeo reaching out to him. Tao held out his staff and Takeo grabbed that, pulling him into his arms, Ishibil keeping them steady.

"What were you _doing_?" Takeo scolded as Ishibil evened out and Tao could breathe properly again.

"Collecting a couple plants to eat," Tao said with a laugh, hugging him.

"And you found a patrol who were looking for you?" Ishibil grumbled, his ears pointed towards them.

"It's just my luck, heh."

"You were lucky we saw your magic as we were flying over," Takeo said, then eyed him even as he hugged Tao back. "But that was why you did it, wasn't it?"

Tao nodded. "Yup! But anyway. What do we do now?" He looked back, where the knights and mages were peering over the edge of the cliff, pointing. Ishibil's magic would have stopped them from seeing him being rescued. "Ishibil?"

"Want me to kill them?"

Tao frowned, thinking it over. "If we did that, there would more people wanting to find out what happened. They think I'm dead anyway." Since no human would have survived a jump like that.

"Then we'll keep an eye out _together_ ," Takeo said, "to make sure they leave."

Tao chuckled, just basking in Takeo's warmth and the fact he was _safe_. "Definitely."


	28. Ripped

**Summary** : M-21 has been cast from Heaven, their wings ripped from them.

* * *

 **Ripped  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

M-21 sucked air into their lungs over and over again, the action automatic for their body now. Just like the blood rushing through them, their heart thudding hard enough they could feel it in their fingers.

A beating heart. Working lungs. The symbols of life.

M-21 didn't want it.

Their back felt empty from the lack of wings, the wings Jake had ripped off to add to their four pairs.

Because power was what matter and if an angel was weak enough to let their wings, their source of power, be stolen from them, then all that was left was to cast them from Heaven.

Only the strongest angels were needed to fight the Devil's hordes.

Water fell from the sky, hitting their skin in a second soft heartbeat and hissing all around them.

Too many sensations at once. They continued to lie there as everything jostled for their attention.

They blinked when the water stopped over their head, like when a comrade shielded them from the light with a wing.

There wasn't an angel above them — they didn't have any wings. A human then.

The human was holding something above their heads that blocked off the water. They had hair that fell to their shoulders in loose waves, and in the dim light it looked like they had pink eyes.

"Are you going to lie there for the rest of the night or are you going to get up?"

Huh? M-21 stared up at them. "You can see me?" The words were slow on their tongue.

The human huffed, adjusting their grip on what was blocking the rain. "Everyone can now."

…Oh. Right. Without their wings they couldn't hide their presence to humans anymore.

"There isn't that many who can see where your wings used to be though."

Their eyes widened at the human's words. "I thought-"

"We can continue this _inside_ ," the human cut them off. "Being ill sucks enough when you aren't getting used to a physical body."

How…? How did the human know what they'd been?

But the human knew this world and how physical bodies worked better than they did.

"All right." M-21 pushed themselves up with a grunt, their arms shaking.

Was this what it was like to live as a human? Their bodies so heavy they resisted moving?

They pulled themselves to their feet and wavered, feeling their wings' lack when they didn't check their balance.

M-21 tilted their head at the human once they were sure they wouldn't fall over. The human was taller than them, and the human really did have pink eyes.

And…

The human was still standing there, shielding them as much as they could from the falling water.

Helping someone else tended to only happen amongst the lower tiered angels, working together to protect their wings; that didn't tend to happen with the stronger angels, since that meant they would need to share the wings they'd gained, or they attacked each other to get an even bigger boost in power.

M-21 ducked their head. "Thank you."

They lifted their head in time to see the human's raised eyebrow. "What's there to thank me for?"

They didn't have the words for it, just that they knew they had to.

"I live over there," the human said, nodding towards one of the tall buildings nearby.

M-21 nodded and started following them there.

* * *

Written for writing-prompt-s' 'Every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings… by tearing them off the back of the weakest angel and casting them down to earth.'


	29. Chance

**Summary** : Being an omega meant being weak. Alphas were favoured in the Union, were better killers, more aggressive, were respected more.  
M-21 _hated_ that he was an omega, but he wasn't going to let other people know that he was one.

Contains: 'This group is inherently inferior and weaker to this other group' thoughts.

Omegaverse AU. Been curious to try poking at this verse, heh.

* * *

 **Chance  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

Being in Frankenstein and Rai's house set M-21's teeth on edge. The place was clean, didn't smell like a lab. That wasn't the problem — it was the _people_.

"Ah, are you going out, M-21?" Frankenstein asked from the kitchen, pouring a cup of tea.

It was an innocuous question, one that Frankenstein probably didn't even care about getting the answer to; M-21 gritted his teeth anyway, the traitorous part of him wanting to duck away from Frankenstein's gaze, to skitter away from the door and towards Frankenstein because he obviously wanted something.

M-21 stomped hard on that impulse, meeting Frankenstein's gaze like an alpha should.

"Yeah, what about it?" M-21 said instead.

"Nothing," Frankenstein said, turning away towards the cookie jar, his question answered.

M-21 let out a controlled exhale at not needing to keep eye contact anymore.

"We'll be having dinner in an hour, so be back by then."

There was an underlying order there, one that would have had any regular omega rushing to acknowledge they'd heard.

"Whatever." M-21 left, his back straight and his hands shoved into his pockets so no-one could see his clenched fists.

He let a tremble go down his spine once he was in the safety of a rooftop where the street lights couldn't touch.

Frankenstein and Raizel-nim probably didn't realise how powerful they were. Or they knew, but didn't know how badly their presences affected M-21. How could they when they were alphas who had taken down a transformed Jake and Mary without trying? They didn't know what it was like to be weak, to be an omega.

Being an omega meant being weak. Alphas were favoured in the Union, were better killers, more aggressive, were respected more.

Being an omega meant being bottom rung amongst experimental material, the ones who got kicked around for amusement. Because that was their place, to show their necks in submission if an alpha so much as looked at them.

M-21 _hated_ that, hated what he was, that he was supposed to submit to whatever alpha walked past. Some random chance had meant he was born inherently weaker and more submissive than the people around him.

In the Union, M-21 had promised to do whatever he could to protect his comrades. The easiest way had been to pretend he was an alpha, to shove back and snarl at whoever had tried to hurt his comrades.

It had worked. It had been _tiring_ , but it had worked. His comrades had been left alone more once he started.

There...wasn't much point pretending anymore. He wasn't in the Union, and the last of his comrades was dead.

But he couldn't stop. Being an omega was being weak, and Frankenstein and Raizel-nim only took him in because they thought he was an alpha. If they knew what he was, they would change the way they treated him and M-21 wouldn't allow that.

Frankenstein acted like an omega to Raizel-nim, accommodating his every need, but he could do that because he was an alpha and Raizel-nim was an even stronger alpha. That was how the hierarchy _worked_.

M-21 took another couple of breaths to steady himself. He was in a better situation than he'd ever been, now under the protection of two powerful alphas.

So he would keep pretending to be an alpha, because that was what they thought he was. 

xOx

"I want them in the house," M-21 said, staring at Frankenstein even as the traitorous omega part of him wanted to soften the demand, say that it wasn't his place to ask.

Takeo and Tao had stopped at his words but M-21 didn't dare look away from Frankenstein's gaze.

Frankenstein looked away first, a soft smile on his face. It was so unexpected, M-21 nearly gawked. Frankenstein had backed down to _him_?

"Of course," Frankenstein said, "this is your home as well."

M-21 nearly missed his words, still reeling that Frankenstein had looked away. And then Frankenstein's words sunk in, that Frankenstein was _giving_ him what he wanted.

Tao whooped and jumped on M-21, almost dragging the both down.

It...would be nice to have people around who had gone through similar to what he had. 

xOx

Having Takeo and Tao around was a balm on M-21's frazzled nerves of constantly being surrounded by alphas and needing to always keep his act up. While Tao was also another alpha, Takeo was an omega; M-21 wasn't sure how Takeo had made it that high up in the hierarchy, but must be because of his ability with guns.

M-21 wanted to talk with Takeo, but he and Tao were usually together. It made sense; they were in a strange place and unsure of the people around them.

And...if M-21 _did_ tell Takeo what he was really was, Takeo could change how he acted around him, tipping off the others.

" _There_ ya are!" Tao's arm snaked around M-21's shoulders before M-21 could do anything. "Takeo's already in his room," Tao said, tugging him in that direction.

M-21 let himself be led, not trying to resist too hard. He hadn't slept well the previous night and was working on auto-pilot.

Takeo was sitting on his bed, reading a book. Takeo looked up at him and smiled. M-21 nodded back at him.

"All riiight!" Tao said, with so much energy he was bouncing on his toes. "I've got a _bunch_ of stuff we could watch!"

Tao dragged him to the bed. Maybe it was because M-21 was tired or distracted, that the other alphas in the house left him alone, but once M-21 was in bed, he tilted his head back at Tao's touch.

Tao's soft inhale made M-21 snap back to reality and he shot off the bed, terror freezing his insides. His mistake for lowering his guard. They couldn't know. They _couldn't know_ he was weak.

M-21 snarled when Tao's cables wrapped around his legs and he toppled to the ground. The cables snapped around his arms so he couldn't move them and M-21 bared his teeth when Tao sat on his stomach, pinning him further.

"You're an omega too?" Tao said, peering down at him and M-21 snarled again, wanting the _hell_ out of there as shame heated his cheeks. At being what he was, at being so weak to reveal that by accident.

"Phew!" Tao said, leaning back against M-21's legs. "I can stop acting too then!"

...What? Why would...

Tao grinned at him, the cables slipping off M-21's limbs. "We have more in common than I thought!"

M-21 couldn't think. Tao _couldn't_ be saying what he thought he was.

"Pretending to be an alpha all the time is tiring isn't it?" Tao stood up and held his hand out to M-21.

M-21 didn't move, still staring at him. "You're-?"

Tao nodded. "Yup! I'm the _best_ at people management, and I had to act like an alpha — the rest of the DA-5 wouldn't have listened to my instructions otherwise."

When M-21 didn't take his hand, Tao shrugged and wandered back to Takeo, throwing himself at him so his head was on Takeo's lap.

M-21 sat up, still trying to wrap his head around what he'd just learned.

Takeo was running his fingers through Tao's hair, his eyes still on his book. Like it wasn't a massive surprise M-21 had been living a lie the entire time. But his eyes weren't moving, so he had to be paying attention to M-21. Pretending there was nothing wrong...? If Tao had also been pretending, then...it _wouldn't_ be that weird for Takeo.

"But if it was tiring to act like an alpha all the time, why did you invite me to meet with you?" It didn't make sense. Tao could have relaxed with Takeo, instead of bringing him there. M-21's refuge was his room where he didn't have to act in front of anyone else.

He got a sharp grin in response from Tao. "If it was so annoying to _you_ , why'd you accept and come over?"

M-21 blinked, opening and closing his mouth. Because he was dragged by Tao wasn't a good enough answer when he could have walked away with no questions asked. That was something an alpha could do.

He'd went over because he still wanted their company even if he had to act during the entire time.

Takeo gestured him over and M-21 went because he wanted to. Because he wanted to be close to them.

M-21 was too used to his armour of his alpha act to fully relax around other people, so he didn't throw himself down like Tao had. He sat down on Takeo's other side instead and after a second's hesitation, leaned on him.

M-21 wasn't sure what Takeo was reading, but he looked over at Tao's raised hand, which had his phone in it.

"Still got a list of stuff to watch, unless you wanna stay in a cuddle pile instead."

M-21 was still mulling that over (Takeo was warm. Not was warm as M-24, but it was still nice to be able to be in contact with another body again) when Takeo said, "How about both?"

" _Great_ idea, Takeo!" Tao continued waving the phone. "Anyone wanna pick, or do I chuck them all into a randomiser and we let the gods of chance choose for us?"

The 'gods of chance' had already fucked M-21's life over by making him an omega, but if it was for something as inconsequential as this, M-21 wouldn't mind if they made the decision this time around. 

* * *

Frankenstein didn't realise M-21's an omega because he assumed anything that was 'off' for an alpha was poor socialisation on the Union's part. Rai knew but didn't say anything because M-21 didn't want the others to know so Rai respected that.

Rai's an omega. Everyone just assumes he's an alpha because of his power and social standing. And since Frankenstein is his servant, that 'has' to mean Rai's a stronger alpha.


	30. Colour

**Summary** : The M-series had been told their DNA was tweaked so their hair showed their emotions as a safety precaution. So the scientists would know if an experiment was about to decide to kill them all.  
They were all fucking liars.

Mood ring hair AU.

Written for sharingwritingprompts' New hair color changes with your mood. It's popularity and incredibly accuracy causes some problems as people realize they don't always want others to really know how they're feeling.'

* * *

 **Colour  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

M-21's hair was silver. Had been for as long as he could control his emotions. Cold. Unfeeling.

He had to be. Letting himself feel meant anyone with working eyes knew what was going on inside his head.

The M-series had been told their DNA was tweaked so their hair showed their emotions as a safety precaution. So the scientists would know if an experiment was about to decide to kill them all.

They were all fucking liars.

M-21 could kill someone without one hair changing its tint; the scientists just wanted another way to rule over their experiments, to watch an experiments' hair turn a sickly shade of yellow at the sight of them.

Shaving his head was an admission of hiding something. So was dying his hair. M-24 was lucky in that way, that his hair had fallen out with the scientists watching so they weren't suspicious of him.

M-21 kept his emotions locked down even when they got missions away from the labs. His emotions were a liability anyway. He needed to see clearly for any opportunity they could get and the first time he'd tried letting go of the tight hold over his emotions, it was hard to shove them back under control. He couldn't risk it. M-24 relied on him.

It was just easier that way.

xOx

M-21's hair was blue past his tears. Or maybe they were blue _because_ of his tears, the fucking things blurring his vision so the darkness wavered in front of him.

There was a crack in his heart, in his perfect control over his emotions, and he didn't know if he was screaming in his head or with his throat, the tunnel echoing everything back to him until everything was warped to his ears.

M-24 was _dead_. M-21 had heard his last rasping breath before there was only the crackle of static, of the soft tumbling of rocks.

What was he supposed to do _now_?

xOx

M-21 scowled at Frankenstein through his hair as the noblesse approached him, hating the fact his hair was flickering, never staying silver like he wanted it.

"You don't need to bottle up your emotions around us," Frankenstein said, his voice soft.

M-21 sneered, lifting his lip to bare his teeth. "Why?" He'd _just_ been able to scrape some semblance of control over himself again even if it wasn't perfect. The crack was still there, still so obvious where his emotions were slipping out and there was nothing he could do about it.

Trying close himself off again was a spiral of futility: he'd try to control his emotions, think about _why_ he couldn't anymore, which cracked his control further and his hair went so blue it was nearly black.

"We aren't the Union," Frankenstein said, his voice still soft and something -anger- flared in M-21 at the pitying look in his eyes before he shoved it away again.

"Of course not," M-21 snapped, wanting to _scream_ at the emotions raging in his head that he _couldn't get rid of_. "You would have killed me already." For being fucking useless. For being too emotional. For being a piece of shit whose defining mark was watching his comrades die in front of him one by fucking one.

"M-"

This time M-21 _did_ snarl at him, spinning on his heel and it was only by that sliver of control he had left he didn't transform and wreck everything in his path.

xOx

M-21's world was red. His bright red hair flicked past his eyes. His blood dripped from the fresh wounds on his hands.

Scattered around him were the remains of the targets he'd already taken apart, the metal biting as he'd torn into them. He'd healed. Always healed afterwards.

He couldn't breathe, his throat closed as his blood roared and he wanted to fucking destroy everything. The targets didn't matter anymore, weren't anything of use, so he'd unleashed his fury on the walls instead.

He was so fucking weak he didn't leave a mark apart from bloody smears.

It didn't fucking matter. _Nothing_ fucking mattered because M-24 was _never coming back_.

He howled again. In rage. In grief. He couldn't tell what emotion had taken him, everything boiling to the surface after years of being ignored.

xOx

M-21's hair was silver again as he curled up on the floor. Maybe. He was too spent to check. Too hollow, too _tired_.

There were blood splatters everywhere, darker now that they'd dried.

His face was still wet from the tears, his chest so tight he could only breathe shallowly, when his breath wasn't hitching.

His head hurt. Everything hurt, and it had nothing to do with his blood strewn everywhere.

M-21 didn't have the energy to left his head when the door swished open, the air stirring in the too hot room.

White trousers, dark hair. Frankenstein's Master.

Hah. Here to finally kick him out, if not kill him. There was more than enough blood for that.

Frankenstein's Master walked through the blood, his shoes making slick sound each time, to look down at the pathetic picture M-21 made.

M-21 wanted to close his eyes. He was tired. Tired of fighting, tired of losing, tired of the control he'd needed to have to survive. Tired of his emotions already. They were too draining to have.

"You would be more comfortable in your bed."

...What?

"You would be more comfortable in your bed."

Same inflection and his face was unreadable to M-21.

They weren't getting rid of him...?

Frankenstein's Master's eyes slid around the room as he made a short humming sound. "Frankenstein does not like a mess, however."

M-21 could take a hint. "I'll clean this up." Once he found where the cleaning supplies were.

Nodding once, Frankenstein's Master left.

xOx

It hadn't been hard to find the cleaning supplies, and M-21 got into a routine of breathing with every push and pull of the mop.

It was weirdly soothing.

He threw his shirt away with the targets — it was a lost cause after he'd caught a sleeve on a target's edge at one point and it had ripped.

Once everything was done, he put everything away, went to the room that had been given to him and curled up on the bed.

It only took doing a few controlled breaths before he fell asleep.

xOx

The roots of M-21's hair was red as he stared at himself in the mirror. The colour gave way to a lighter blue.

Red for the smouldering anger he still had. It wasn't the all encompassing fire of rage he'd had a few days before.

He'd tried locking everything away again, but that was impossible now that it had been unlocked. It couldn't go back to how things had used to be, no matter how much he wanted it.

If he couldn't do that, then the next best thing was make sure no-one else knew what he was feeling.

Exhaling, he grabbed the bottle of silver hair dye he'd bought that morning.


	31. On Instinct

**Summary** : "C'mon," Kentas said, grinning at M-21 and clapping a hand on his shoulder, his wings flexing, "let's go flying."

Wing AU

Written for 15kisses' 'wings' prompt.

* * *

 **On Instinct  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

M-21 frowned, staring at Kentas' set of wings, arcing above his head and M-21 was sure they'd be double in length when they were spread. He looked at home in them, like the wings were supposed to be there. He'd been born with the ability to summon them, after all.

M-21 was still unsure about his own set. They'd grown a lot since he'd first been able to summon them, looking like actual wings rather than some vestigial stubs that could be hidden under his clothes. They didn't feel quite _wrong_ , but they'd never felt _right_ either.

"C'mon," Kentas said, grinning at him and clapping a hand on his shoulder, his wings flexing, "let's go flying."

M-21 didn't move to follow and Kentas turned to blink at him.

"...Are you sure?" M-21 said, giving his wings an experimental flap. He'd never flown before — he'd been able to transform and use the powers of the transformation, but he'd only ever jumped from place to place when moving around.

"Yeah, why not?" Kentas looked like he was on the verge of flying, his wings half spread.

M-21 didn't say anything, his lips pursed.

Understanding grew on Kentas' face, his eyes going wide. "You've never-?"

"They've never been this big before."

There was no mocking expression on Kentas' face, no sneer. He grinned at M-21 instead, excited as he started to pull him towards one of the closest buildings. "It's easy! C'mon, you'll be flying in a few minutes."

Said the guy who'd had his wings for hundreds of years already. Did Kentas even remember learning how to fly? M-21 followed him anyway, bouncing off the walls to reach the rooftop.

"You have the instincts for it," Kentas said once they were both standing on the rooftop's edge. "You can call out your wings."

That was a nice confidence in him, but M-21 didn't expect much.

M-21 stared out at the horizon, the pinpricks of lights winding from place to place in the roads blow as a breeze gusted over his skin.

He'd done something like this hundreds of times before but he'd never felt the instincts to fly like Kentas thought he had. Maybe he'd never had them and never would.

...Well, if he failed, he'd survive the drop — he'd have enough time to grab a wall before he hit the ground too.

Kentas was waiting next to him, not trying to push him. "So, what," M-21 said, raising his wings a little before letting them drop again. "I just flap my wings?"

Kentas nodded. "Don't think about it too much."

...Kentas either didn't know him all, or had talked to Frankenstein about him.

M-21 exhaled. "Let's do this."

Before he could question himself more, M-21 flung himself off the rooftop.

He plummeted headfirst. His wings were open, but all they seemed to do was make him fall _faster_ , the wind ruffling his feathers.

He span, seeing Kentas following behind him. Kentas didn't seem worried or reaching out, just watching him.

Nothing was wrong. Yet. This was normal.

Except there weren't any instincts M-21 could feel telling him how to _do_ this. The ground was getting closer and closer and M-21 wasn't sure if he should grab wall yet.

There was another gust of wind, one that flowed around his wings and something _clicked_. He flared his wings, the feathers adjusting on their own and he shot up again, soaring on the air current, shooting past the rooftops.

It was quieter this high up, colder, with only the wind whistling past his ears. And Kentas' laugh.

M-21 grunted when Kentas tackled him, his laugh filling his ears, and they wheeled in the air, the world spinning. They didn't fall and when Kentas let him go, M-21 righted himself just fine. On instinct.

They landed on the same rooftop they'd jumped from, Kentas wrapping a wing around M-21 and drawing him close. "Told you you could do it."

M-21 hummed at the warmth after the cold air, hiding his smile in Kentas' shoulder.

"Want to do it again?"

M-21 didn't hesitate this time. "Yeah." He shrugged his shoulders, his wings settling in place, feeling like they were part of him for the first time rather than something grafted onto his body.

It looked like he did have the right instincts, after all.


	32. Compare

**Summary** : Ignes recognises the weapon Frankenstein wields. She isn't impressed.

Ignes backstory AU.

* * *

 **Compare  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon

* * *

Ignes blinked at the human standing across from her. More powerful than the usual sort the Union churned out, able to hide his aura enough that she would have lost her arm if she hadn't side stepped.

That wasn't the most interesting thing about him.

It was the purple and black weapon in his hand, its form flickering with flames. Up the human's arm that same purple and black crept up, coating it in a thin cover. From the shape, it looked like a dual headed spear, but the heads were far larger than usual. Now why did that look familiar…?

The human saw where her attention was and smirked. "I see you're interested in my lo-"

"Oh!" Ignes said, brightening. "So that's where that old thing went."

The human raised an eyebrow at her. "'That thing'?"

Ignes waved a hand in dismissal, smiling as she relaxed. "That thing was stolen from the Union a couple hundred years before I joined. A bit of a pity since I would have liked to study the prototype they'd created, but they _did_ keep their notes."

She raked her eyes over the 'Dark Spear's form it created over the human's body. "The way your one looks, it must have been a few thousand human lives that went into it?" There were claws at the end of his fingers, but that seemed to be the extent of it. "How cute."

The human drew himself up straight, his aura darkening area around him. "The sacrifice of human lives isn't _cute_."

Ignes shook her head, sighing. "Oh, that wasn't why I said it was cute. It's cute because there was _only_ a few thousand human lives used to make that.

"That thing was made from old data," Ignes continued, feeling the heavier weight as the human pressed his aura on her, attempting to intimidate her. She ignored the irritating feeling. "I found the notes and improved them."

That seemed to make the human pause, though his aura didn't falter. Hm. How interesting. What data would she get from him when she had him restrained on a table?

She didn't need more information about 'Dark Spear', since she'd already surpassed the limitations of what that thing could go to centuries ago, but it would be interesting to find out how it had affected the human.

"Hah. Someone from the Union, able to improve something?" The human snorted. "Unlikely."

"Want to see?"

Ignes raised her hand to the sky, dark clouds forming above her head and her skin tingled as power collected in the air. It poured into her as the sky cracked.

Her weapon's form was solid, unlike the human's. Her preferred shape for it was a whip, but she did sometimes wielding a sword, one like the Lord's. Her weapon looked like the Cetus her father wielded, but the other souls packed into it made it into something else. Like the thorns that ran down the length of the thong, how it split at the end, each tip ending with a spike.

The form it made when it covered her was more armoured, scales running over every surface, snakes encircling her neck and wrists.

" _My_ weapon has several hundred thousand souls in it," Ignes said, smiling. "As I'm sure you can tell the difference."

There was a murmur in Ignes' ears after her weapon had settled. They were reacting to the presence of the Dark Spear, and she smiled, her heart pumping in anticipation of collecting more data. "My weapon is eager to meet yours. It met Cetus for a short while but, ah," she said, sighing, "it doesn't like playing with others. They swallowed up all of the noble souls in it, adding them to their own power."

The fight wouldn't take long, and she would have _so_ much fun seeing what new data this human would bring.

"Now then," Ignes said, smiling, "shall we compare your weapon with mine?" 

* * *

Because I would have preferred having an antagonist who's actually competent rather than another one who ends up losing their composure over a few simple words. An antagonist that's a challenge and you don't know who's going to win against them.


End file.
